Seeing Can Be Deceiving
by sunny1388
Summary: As usual Inu and Kagome have another fight, but this time things just go crazy! Kagome gets kidnapped...kinda, and Sesshomaru gets Chicken Pox...kinda. Kouga dies...kinda. Sesshomaru kidnaps Kagome...kinda. Confused yet? And this is only the summary!
1. A Rainy Afternoon

Version Two~ I've gone back and taken out all of my old author's notes and reviewer replies to make the story look a bit neater. But don't worry, they're not gone forever, I wouldn't take away all my replies to all my wonderful reviewers so they will be showing up on their own page on my website as soon as possible. The chapter titles are also changed a bit since the old ones were randomly thought up just so I could post a chapter. Anyway, enjoy the story!  
  
Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 1  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was a bright and sunny morning, so Inuyasha and co. decided to leave the village, even though they heard no news of the Shikon shards. They figured that they would meet someone on the road who had heard something.  
  
It was a bad choice.  
  
About mid-morning, it had started raining, the huge thunderclouds coming out of nowhere and pouring down on them, soaking them all in seconds.  
  
They had run around looking for some shelter. Kagome and Sango were both shivering and freezing. Even Miroku was so cold and wet that he didn't try to pull anything, with a small exception of whether Sango wanted to share his robes or not. He only received a half-hearted slap from the miserable demon huntress, but it was enough to send him to the ground.  
  
Inuyasha was trudging ahead of all of them, silent, although talking was out of the question anyway with constant lightning and thunder drowning out even Shippo's whines.  
  
The poor little kitsune was resting in a sleeve of Inuyasha's haori, facing Kirara who had taken the other sleeve.   
  
Inuyasha had been..."persuaded" to let them use his sleeves after a few times getting half drowned in a muddy puddle by the magic of Kaede's prayer beads and a word from Kagome.  
  
He was not happy.  
  
The hanyou's hair was completely soaked with rainwater, the mud having been washed out by the downpour. His ears were flat against the sides of his head, keeping the rain out, but every few moments an ear would perk up to flick away a particularly large bead of water.  
  
The group would've laughed at their appearances if they had the spirit to, but they were all too cold, tired, and wet to chatter.   
  
However, they got all the chattering they wanted from Kagome and Sango's teeth.  
  
~*~  
  
Just before noon, Kirara found a cave and they all squished in, a bit happier, but still mostly too tired to do anything but find a spot leaning a cave wall and nap.  
  
By the mouth of the cave sat Miroku, who was just in the cave enough to avoid any raindrops splattering in. He sported a bright, new handprint on a cheek; a symbol of a trying to use the small size of the cave to his advantage.  
  
Shippo lay gently snoring on his lap.  
  
Next was Inuyasha, with his classic hands-tucked-in-sleeves/legs-crossed pose and apparently napping, too.  
  
But he was actually just napping with his eyes half-closed.  
  
Kagome was leaning on his shoulder on his other side, with Inuyasha's body a firm barrier against any wandering houshi hands.   
  
However, this was not the most comfortable situation for Inuyasha. Occasionally, she would move in her sleep and lean closer to him or pull on his sleeve. Although, it wasn't uncomfortable, he knew Kagome would be fuming mad if she found out when she woke up.  
  
In the innermost corner of the cave and the last person in their little line was Sango, also fast asleep. Kirara was curled up on her lap, taking a short catnap, but still ready to awaken if she heard Miroku stirring.  
  
Still, group was fairly comfortable in the cave; at least it was dry and warm.  
  
~*~   
  
By mid-afternoon, it was still pouring out and the rain didn't look like it would stop anytime soon.   
  
Inuyasha was getting bored.  
  
Sure, it was nice to have Kagome next to him, but the monk on his other side was really starting to annoy him. Plus, he was getting hungry! Inuyasha let out a low growl of annoyance and boredom.  
  
Hearing a growl rumbling deep in a chest, Kagome's eyes opened and she blinked because her whole vision was red. She shifted slightly and realized it was Inuyasha's haori.   
  
Lifting her head up a bit, she looked up and stared straight into golden eyes that had looked down at her the moment Inuyasha felt her movement.  
  
Kagome looked away first in embarrassment, her cheeks flushed, but then looked back at him, a glint of anger in her now-steely glare.  
  
"Baka! Who told you, you could get so close to me while I was asleep? Sometimes you're almost as bad as Miroku!"  
  
Of course, Kagome didn't really mean it, she liked the feeling of him close, but she wasn't about to admit it, especially not to him, not now!  
  
Inuyasha blinked, bewildered. A minute ago she had been clinging to his haori, completely relaxed and peaceful in her sleep.   
  
He quickly got rid of his confusion and yelled to her,  
  
"Hey! You were the one who fell asleep by me! Feh! You think I wanted to be next to you while you were asleep? Yeah right, not in a million years! Did you wake up yet or are ya still dreaming?"  
  
He finished, then got up, moving to the other side of the cave, trying to put as much distance as possible between them, which wasn't far, considering how small the cave was. Still, it was enough so that she wouldn't see his expression, which was completely different from what he said.  
  
"Feh! Stupid girl..." he mumbled.   
  
It was silent.  
  
The silence made Inuyasha uncomfortable so the moment he could mask his expression, he looked up at Kagome.  
  
Kagome's hands were clenched into fists and she looked very angry. Her face was red again, but this time it was from anger, not embarrassment. She was taking deep breaths and if looks could kill..., well, Inuyasha would've been dead.  
  
Inuyasha gulped, his instincts screaming at him that when a female was this mad, he should expect a beating.  
  
But Kagome simply took a few more deep breaths, closed her eyes, turned, and stalked out of the cave into the sheets of icy rain. 


	2. The Right Tree

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 2  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kagome almost made it to the mouth of the cave, but a single tear fell to the ground as she walked past the shocked Miroku.  
  
The houshi had been awake all along, just meditating. Plus, it was so much fun to see Inuyasha fidget with embarrassment as Kagome snuggled into his haori. It would've been perfect for blackmail if Inuyasha wasn't such a short fuse already. Still, at least he was having fun watching them.   
  
When Kagome woke up, Miroku knew there was going to be a fight, but he didn't expect Inuyasha to be so cold, he seemed to enjoy having Kagome near him. The hanyou was probably just trying to cover up his feelings like always, but he was too busy acting all macho to realize how much he had just hurt Kagome.  
  
Miroku was just going to get up to give Inuyasha some advice, but Inuyasha had stood up and was going after Kagome. Miroku smiled. It seemed Inuyasha had finally done some growing up.   
  
~*~   
  
When Kagome had simply got up and walked outside, Inuyasha just stared, confused and startled.   
  
That stupid girl, she should know better than to go into the forest alone. Even though they were still in the forest that surrounded Kaede's village, there were still dangerous youkai hunting in the rain, who wouldn't think twice about killing a human girl.  
  
Even though he was annoyed about being compared to that lowly houshi, Inuyasha knew he cared...well, he knew she was important because...she could see the Shikon shards!  
  
Reassuring himself that this was why she was still useful, Inuyasha got up and left the shelter of the cave to track down Kagome.  
  
~*~  
  
When Inuyasha had gone, Miroku looked over to where Sango was; they were all alone, except for a snoring Kitsune and a napping Kirara.  
  
The houshi slowly inched over, being careful not to wake Kirara, and leaned up against Sango, who unconsciously made a sigh of content and rested her head on Miroku's shoulder.  
  
~*~  
  
In the driving rain, even Inuyasha's demonic senses were partly smothered, but he could still pick up Kagome's scent easily, as well as the salty smell of her tears that stood out from the rainwater.   
  
Inuyasha cringed, he hated to see or smell her crying, but he hadn't meant...  
  
But Inuyasha didn't have any more time to think because Kagome's scent led up a large, leafy tree just ahead of him.   
  
He looked up and a sudden flash of lightning illuminated the branches of the tree just long enough for him to see a soaking Kagome clinging to the largest branch looking down at Inuyasha, trying to flatten herself against the bark so he wouldn't see her.  
  
Inuyasha gave a small snort, had she forgotten about his sense of smell?  
  
He took at deep breath, trying to calm himself and get the concern out of his voice before calling up to her,   
  
"Oi! Kagome, what'd I go this time?"   
  
He succeeded in hiding his concern for her, but a little too well. His voice sounded even harsher than normal, although his words showed otherwise.  
  
Too bad the thunder was too loud for Kagome to make out the words.  
  
"Go away!" She yelled at him, tossing a loose branch his way.  
  
Inuyasha just calmly crossed his arms and the wind of the storm easily blew the small branch far off target.  
  
Inuyasha was feeling a bit uneasy. Usually when he made an attempt at an apology, Kagome would understand and forgive him, but this time she didn't seem very forgiving.   
  
He decided to try another way.  
  
Extending his claws, Inuyasha quickly climbed up the tree and sat down on Kagome's branch leaning against the trunk. He folded his hands into his sleeves and carelessly dangled a leg over the branch, looking completely relaxed sitting on the high branch in the middle of the thunderstorm.  
  
"What are you doing? Go away!" Kagome told him through clenched teeth, but to Inuyasha, the dog-hanyou, she looked like a female baring her fangs at him; a small shiver went up his spine.   
  
Kagome could be really intimidating when she was angry!   
  
The two determined, angry glares met and held in a silent battle before Kagome looked away again.  
  
Now Inuyasha was even more confused! He was sure that she looked...sad, just a moment before she turned away.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by her defeated voice coming from her shadowed face.  
  
What?! He thought to himself, she is acting really strange!  
  
"Fine. I'll leave then. You can stay here." She carefully crawled over to where Inuyasha sat against the trunk, to climb down, but the bewildered hanyou didn't move, still too confused to understand what was happening.   
  
Kagome's glare of annoyance momentarily returned when she saw that he wasn't moving aside, but quickly vanished again.  
  
She looked around, then saw another, smaller branch that she could use to climb down from, but the moment she grabbed onto the branch, there was an ominous crack.  
  
Inuyasha looked up when he heard her shriek and was just in time to see Kagome falling towards the ground far below! 


	3. Falling

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 3  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Inuyasha leapt up from his place on the tree branch and jumped down to catch Kagome, but he was quickly pulled back by the collar of his haori. Reaching a hand behind his back, he found something like a twig caught onto his collar and ripped it off.  
  
Desperately, he leaped from the branch and frantically searched for Kagome, hoping that she was caught on the branches of the large tree, or that a branch had snagged her, or something...anything, other than falling to the ground.  
  
But inside, he knew it was hopeless.  
  
In a few seconds, the hanyou realized Kagome had fallen through the branches and had already landed on the ground far below.   
  
Dropping gently, but quickly from the last branch off the ground, Inuyasha immediately saw the girl laying on her back, unmoving on the ground.   
  
He suddenly stopped and memories flooded back to him of when he was a child and his mother had died.   
  
Her face was as pale as Kagome's now, and her once-bright eyes were closed.  
  
Inuyasha quickly shook off the feeling of dread, his mother had been covered with blood, and Kagome didn't seem to have any open wounds.  
  
Taking a quick sniff at the air to see if there was any scent of coppery blood, Inuyasha swore under his breath; he had forgotten that tonight was the full moon.  
  
He decided that the only way to tell how Kagome was doing would be to go up to her and look, even though he didn't want to if she was already dead...  
  
Walking up to her still body, Inuyasha gently put a hand on her shoulder, but didn't shake her, in case she was injured. He called to her, trying not to sound too desperate,   
  
"Kagome? Kagome, are you alright? C'mon, say something!"  
  
But Kagome didn't move.  
  
"Dumb girl...why were you up in that tree in the first place, you don't even like climbing trees! Stupid girl, I told you not to follow me around..."  
  
Inuyasha began to panic, even though his calm exterior didn't show it, like always... His grip on her shoulder tightened and even though he knew he shouldn't, he shook her,  
  
"Kagome..."  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome felt a jolt of pain that shot straight up her shoulder from all the way from her fingertips. She opened her eyes and a small gasp of pain escaped her lips.  
  
The moment her eyes sorted out the blurry image, she tried to sit up, to leave, but the slightest movement of her arm sent her right back to the ground again.  
  
So, instead, she turned her head away from Inuyasha.   
  
She knew that if she looked into his eyes...  
  
After laying still for a few moments, the pain slowly faded away and Kagome closed her eyes once more, but this time in relief.  
  
~*~  
  
"Kagome?"  
  
When Inuyasha saw Kagome's eyes flutter open, he jumped back, almost in fear of her seeing that he cared.   
  
As she lay there, completely still and just staring off facing away from him, he slowly inched back to her side.  
  
But when she closed her eyes again, the recent feelings of panic started to bubble up again and he called her name, willing her to stay conscious.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome heard his voice and she had just been ready to drift into blackness again, but now she opened her eyes and remembered that she was laying on the hard, cold, and muddy ground after a long fall from the tree above.  
  
She took a few deep breaths, then slowly sat up, trying not to jostle her injured arm at all.   
  
Amazingly, she managed it, and after another deep breath, made it on her feet by herself, pushing away Inuyasha's shyly offered help.   
  
She looked around, finding her way again, then started to walk slowly back to the cave. She was thinking as she walked and tried to evaluate her current health.  
  
Her right arm was probably broken; she had lost all feeling in it except when the pain resurfaced whenever she moved it.  
  
Her right ankle also seemed to be a bit hurt, but probably not broken or sprained. She could still walk on it, but she'd have to be careful and hide the small limp it was causing.   
  
Other than a few small cuts and scrapes and some bruises from her landing, she was doing pretty well.   
  
She had been injured more severely in fights before.  
  
~*~  
  
As she walked away from him, Inuyasha could not help but feel guilty. He knew Kagome thought he didn't care, but he did.   
  
He just didn't know if he wanted to show it or how to do it.  
  
Every time she got hurt, he felt responsible. After all, she had chosen to help him on his quest to find the Shikon Jewel, so it was his responsibility to protect her inr eturn from her help.   
  
Aside from feeling obligated to protect her, there was also the little nagging voice in his head that he told him he wanted to protect her.   
  
But hadn't he promised already to protect Kikyo?   
  
He knew that he could protect both of them, but what if it was something more?   
  
Things were getting too confusing for him. Inuyasha brought up a hand to rub his head to get rid of the sudden pounding headache he had, but he stopped his hand infront of his nose.  
  
Taking a small sniff at it, he recognized a bit of Kagome's blood.  
  
But he shrugged it off, obviously she would have some small cuts from falling down a tree, plus he was too occupied with his thoughts.  
  
A small cut wouldn't be enough to attract any youkai, only a bleeding wound would do that, and since Inuyasha hadn't picked up any traces of a large would on Kagome, he slowly followed her, not thinking it was necessary to cover their tracks.  
  
He never once thought that his senses might have been dulled. 


	4. Just the Beginning

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 4  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Back at the cave, Miroku dropped once again, this time with a huge bump on his head from Sango's boomerang.  
  
He already sported a handprint on each cheek and a much-yanked ear, which Sango grabbed onto and pulled Miroku up with, oblivious to the pleadings of Miroku.  
  
Dragging him back to his proper spot; across the cave from her, she stalked back to her corner of the cave, and thought darkly to herself how the only shelter they could find was this tiny.  
  
Now finished petting Kirara, Shippo crawled over to where Miroku sat wincing as he tenderly touched his head.  
  
Shippo shook his head, then crawled onto Miroku's shoulder whispering into his stretched ear,  
  
"I told ya so!"  
  
From beneath her half-closed eyelids, Sango watched as Miroku made a half-hearted grab at the smirking kitsune, who darted away from him, jumping off his shoulder and running to Kirara.  
  
Sango spread her arms, indicating that Shippo could sit on her lap, and smiled at the little orphan, who she looked to as a sort of younger sibling, now that her family was gone.  
  
Shippo glanced back over his little shoulder at Miroku, who he knew was watching what he'd do.   
  
Shippo smiled to himself, then started slowly crawling towards Sango, the picture of a kid who'd had his feelings hurt.   
  
Miroku snorted in amusement, a very unmonk-like sound, but Sango took the bait and scooped the little kitsune up, shooting an icy glare at the inconsiderate houshi.  
  
Shifting back and forth on her lap, Shippo tried to find a comfortable position, but suddenly stopped and sat up, his little nose sniffing the air.  
  
Sango noticed, and asked,  
  
"What is it? Do you smell something, Shippo?"  
  
Shippo slowly nodded, then jumped out of her lap and crawled, nose on the ground, towards the cave mouth.   
  
Without even noticing, he crawled right out into the rain, still sniffing.   
  
Alarmed, Sango looked over at Miroku, wondering what to do, but the monk simply closed his eyes and leaned back, apparently thinking this was a little game thought up by Shippo to get back at him.  
  
However, a second later, they heard the little kitsune scream and they both ran out into the rain, yelling the kitsune's name.  
  
They found him quickly, he had only gotten maybe 20 feet from the cave. Sango and Miroku both sighed in relief.  
  
They were relieved to have found the little kitsune, completely safe, but saw he was on the ground, crying.  
  
Shippo was shaking something that was laying facedown on the ground.  
  
Kneeling down to see who or what it was, Sango and Miroku gasped.  
  
Kagome. 


	5. Kouga

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 5  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When Miroku and Sango realized the unmoving body was Kagome, they were both utterly confused and horrified.  
  
Miroku, acting completely serious for once, quickly decided that they had to move her back to the cave; at least it was dry.  
  
Handing his staff to Sango, who wordlessly took it, he bent down and carefully picked Kagome up.   
  
"Be careful, houshi-sama, she might be hurt!" Sango said, bitting her lip. Again, her best friend was hurt. Sango could not help but feel guilty and helpless.   
  
Even though Kagome was unconscious and probably hurt, Miroku still noticed how Sango's head was lowered and how she was being very quiet.  
  
"Lady Sango?" He quietly asked. Sango quickly looked up and slid a hand over her eyes before meeting his eyes.  
  
"Could you take Shippo? I think he needs...ah," Miroku paused, not wanting to embarrass the little kit, but Sango knew what he meant.  
  
Reaching up, she took the the kitsune off Miroku's shoulder and cradled him in her arms.   
  
When Miroku picked Kagome up, Shippo had clambered onto the monk's shoulder, not wanting to be separated from Kagome.   
  
Sango knew the kitsune thought of Kagome as his adoptive mother, and suddenly realized that she didn't want the already orphaned kit to go through the pain of losing another mother.  
  
Arriving at the cave, Sango gave the little fox in her arms a little squeeze before setting him down to run into the cave by himself.   
  
Helping Miroku carry Kagome into the cave, Sango quietly asked him,  
  
"Is Kagome going to be alright? I mean...will she..."  
  
Sango stopped again, bitting her lip, this time to keep it from trembling.  
  
Miroku carefully set Kagome down on the dry ground inside the cave and knelt down beside her.   
  
Now they both really looked at Kagome, who was completely soaked, a bit muddy, and slightly blue from the freezing rain.  
  
Miroku sighed and replied with a weak excuse for smile,  
  
"I don't know. We will have see what injuries she has gotten. But Lady Kagome has escaped from many binds before, ne?"   
  
Although Miroku was only trying to reassure Sango, it was not the right thing to say at the moment while Sango was blaming herself for not defending Kagome, her friend.  
  
But Sango, trying to act like the strong demon-huntress she was, quickly put aside her feelings of guilt to be dealt with later and commented on something that had been bothering her,  
  
"It's strange, Inuyasha would rather die before he let anyone hurt Kagome...but...we haven't seen Inuyasha..."  
  
Miroku looked a bit troubled as he answered her,  
  
"Yes, I also wonder what's happened to him...but for now, let us concentrate on Lady Kagome."   
  
Sango nodded and shifted over to look at Kagome, but winced when she noticed the girl's foot  
  
"It looks like her left ankle is swollen. What do you think, houshi-sama?"  
  
Miroku looked over the ankle Sango was pointing to, then pulled up his sleeves, and gently removed Kagome's shoe and sock and examined the ankle.  
  
"Yes, it is swollen, although I don't believe it to be broken. Will you hand me some of those bandages over there, Lady Sango?"  
  
Sango got up to get the strips of cloth while Miroku nervously wiped his forehead on the back of his sleeve.  
  
Kneeling down beside Kagome again, Sango reached over and handed Miroku the bandages, her eyes distracted and sad, but she suddenly looked up as Miroku's fingers not only brushed her own, but gently clasped onto them.  
  
"Do not trouble yourself Lady Sango. I expect Kagome to have a few scratches or so, but she should be fine. Do not blame yourself." He smiled at her, not a hentai grin like she was used to, but the smile of a friend comforting her when she needed it most.  
  
"A-arigato, houshi-sama" Sango said, before quickly letting go and looking down at her hands in her lap.  
  
For a while, they worked silently and bandaged Kagome up.   
  
Finally, they were done and Miroku got to his feet and stretched, looking outside. It had already stopped raining, but there was still no sign of Inuyasha.  
  
Sango also stretched out her arms, but stayed where she was kneeling on the ground.  
  
That was how she felt the ground shaking.  
  
Her eyes wide, Sango stuttered,  
  
"H-houshi-sama? Do you feel that? It feels like the earth is moving!"  
  
But Miroku only turned to stare down the path near the small cave, his mouth in a tight frown.  
  
"Lady Sango, go into the cave and stay with Shippo and Lady Kagome. Be completely silent and do not move!"  
  
Miroku sounded completely serious and Sango decided to obey him, even though she was going to have a little "talk" with him later about ordering her around.  
  
But soon, Sango realized why Miroku had seemed so serious.  
  
The monk only had enough time to take a fighting stance and cast a barrier over the mouth of the cave before the wolf-youkai emerged from the trees running towards them at top speed. 


	6. Sesshomaru

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 6  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Kouga?! Oh no! Not now, not while Kagome is like this! Oh, why did he have to come and where is Inuyasha when Kagome needs him?"   
  
Sango muttered to herself while she grabbed her boomerang and took up a fighting stance in front of Kagome's unconscious form in case Kouga somehow broke through Miroku's shielding spell.  
  
Kirara had already transformed and was standing with Miroku outside the shield.  
  
Suddenly, Sango felt a little tug on her leg and looked down to see Shippo's worried little face.  
  
"Sango..., um...are we gonna be okay?" He asked, quickly letting go of her leg to clasp his hands behind his back.  
  
Sango smiled a bit. She had known the little Kitsune was always shy with her, but she liked Shippo a lot. Only, she was still too heart-broken from the loss of Kohaku to be so affectionate with a small child. She still missed Kohaku everyday and never stopped thinking about him.  
  
"Yes, Shippo, Kirara is out there right now, protecting us." Although Sango did not want to rely on anyone else for protection, she knew that someone had to watch over Kagome and Shippo. Also, she knew that against Kouga, Miroku's hand would be a better weapon than her boomerang, no matter how much she didn't want to admit it.  
  
"And Miroku, he's there, too!" Shippo added, protesting when he thought Sango had forgotten the monk, who Shippo liked a lot as an older brother, but also a shoulder to ride on so he wouldn't have to walk.  
  
However, Shippo stopped when his sharp kitsune ears picked up an interesting sound. He was trying to puzzle out what it meant while Sango replied.  
  
"Yes, Mi-um...houshi-sama is fighting for us also."  
  
Then Sango looked down at Shippo again and noticed he had a very funny expression on his face.  
  
"What is it, Shippo? What's the matter?" Sango was worried it was another attacker.  
  
"Oh...nothing..." Shippo replied, slowly, in the voice children used when they knew a secret.  
  
"Shippo, what is it? If it's something important, please tell me." Sango asked, still worried.  
  
"Oh...well...it's just that...you like Miroku, don't ya?" Shippo asked, looking mischievously at Sango, who oculd feel her face turn red and her heart speed up.   
  
Worse, she knew that Shippo would be able to hear it.  
  
"Um...what do you mean? Houshi-sama?!" Sango started to think up any lie that she could tell to get out of this awkward position.   
  
"Yep! Ya do like him!! I thought so, he'll be happy when he hears this!!" The little kitsune started jumping up and down, waiting for a free moment to talk to Miroku. The priest would be VERY happy!  
  
But the kitsune was stopped in midjump by Sango, who grabbed him and covered his mouth, hoping that the shield on the cave also covered out sound.  
  
"Shh! Onegai Shippo, don't tell. Please!" Sango pleaded, looking nervously to the mouth of the cave and then back down at Shippo, being restrained by her arms.  
  
"Oh, alright...but ya hafta tell him sooner or later!" Shippo teased, jumping out from Sango's arms.   
  
Sango only sighed, but she waas relieved that, at least for now, her secret was safe.  
  
'Wait! What am I thinking? What secret?! I do not love that lecher, how could anyone love that...' but Sango's thoughts were abruptely stopped when Kouga somehow broke through the shield, knocking Miroku and Kirara, who were outside, back into the cave.  
  
Now the fuming wolf-youkai quickly spotted Kagome and ran to her side.  
  
"Kagome! Kagome, what happened?" But he quickly realized that Kagome was unconscious and before any of them could even get up to fight, he had scooped Kagome up into his arms and left.  
  
Finally getting up after being slammed into the cave wall by the fierce winds from Kouga, Sango cried out when she saw that Kagome was gone.  
  
Running out of the cave, she saw Miroku, tossed carelessly to the side of the road, bleeding from several small wounds as well as a cut on his forehead that trickled blood down the side of his face.  
  
With Sango's help, Miroku got unsteadily to his face and leaned heavily on the demon-huntress by him, too exhausted to try anything.  
  
Kirara suffered even more and was now in her little form. The little cat was picked up by Shippo who had followed Sango out of the cave.  
  
Sango threw her boomerang, but Kouga dodged it easily.  
  
The small group stood wordlessly on the path, following the whirling dust tornado with their eyes as they tried to suppress their own overwhelmed emotions.  
  
Kagome was gone, again.  
  
Shippo sobbed openly and hugged Kirara even more.  
  
Miroku simply stared down the path, his face hard and solemn. He had an arm around Sango's shoulders.  
  
Sango was weeping for her friend, tears running down her cheeks silently as she leaned again Miroku.  
  
They all knew it was hopeless to follow Kouga, at least until Inuyasha was back.  
  
Miroku was feeling especially angry at the hanyou. How could he be somewhere else when that pathetic lovesick wolf had kidnapped Kagome again?!  
  
He looked down at the path now; it was getting too hard to stare at the small tornado, becoming seemingly smaller and smaller as it moved further and further away from them.  
  
But feeling Sango stiffen in his arms, he looked up and, for a moment, didn't realize why she gasped, but then he saw it.  
  
Sesshomaru. 


	7. Taken

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 7  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sesshomaru.  
  
Miroku's eyebrow twitched, why oh why did HE have to come, right now?! Could things get any worse? Now even if Inuyasha showed up, Sesshomaru would beat him into a pulp again, but if Inuyasha didn't show up, Kouga would leave with Kagome.  
  
Why did it have to be THAT youkai? Any other would have been completely fine, but no, they had to have another little "reunion" all over again.  
  
He sighed, but suddenly felt a sharp tug on his arm. Miroku winced. After all, Kouga had just finished beating him up pretty well.  
  
"Well?! Are we just going to stand here while that evil brother of Inuyasha makes matters even worse? We have to do something, houshi-sama!"   
  
Sango insisted as Kirara behind them jumped from Shippo's arms to transform and stand by her master.  
  
"What do you suggest we do, Lady Sango? There is no way we could stand up to both Sesshomaru AND Kouga without Inuyasha here. Also, I believe Kouga will be faster and stronger than normal because he believes he is fighting for Kagome. Kirara and I are both still wounded from our fight with Kouga."  
  
Miroku replied back, knowing that his answer would seem like cowardice to Sango, but it was the truth; the demon huntress was just too blinded with concern for Kagome to see it.  
  
"No! Kouga wants to kidnap Kagome, but Sesshomaru only cares about Inuyasha. I don't think Sesshomaru would really care about our fight with Kouga! We have to fight, or else Kagome..."  
  
Sango stopped, not finishing her sentence, and climbed onto Kirara.  
  
"I'm going to go rescue Kagome. By myself, if necessary."   
  
Sango's voice was hard when she said this and she simply gazed at the stopped dot of Kouga as he saw Sesshomaru.  
  
"Alright, I'll come. Inuyasha would kill me if I didn't do this for him." Miroku surrendered, and climbed onto Kirara, sitting behind Sango.  
  
Sango whispered a warning before telling Kirara to go,  
  
"If you try anything, I'll tell Kirara to throw you off and let you fall to the ground."  
  
Miroku's hand suddenly stopped sliding and he decided it was safer to just rest them at his sides, but he was disappointed. He had hoped Sango would forget her usual threat because of the events at the moment.  
  
In a few long jumps, Kirara had brought them to Kouga and Sesshomaru.   
  
They were fighting.  
  
Kouga still had Kagome and that meant his arms were full so he couldn't attack Sesshomaru. The only thing he could do was dodge the claws, and that took all his concentration so he didn't even notice the others that had come up to witness their fight.  
  
"Hand over the reincarnation of Kikyo, wolf, if you know what's good for you. Or else you shall taste the toxins of my claws."  
  
Sesshomaru threatened calmly, not bothering to let up his attacks as he talked.  
  
Sango and Miroku were equally puzzled, well, Sango was a bit more puzzled.  
  
She wondered why Sesshomaru would be fighting Kouga at all. But even more surprising was the fact that Sesshomaru wanted Kagome. The dog-youkai hated humans and he tried to kill Kagome more than once, but did he just want to kidnap her this time?  
  
Miroku was very confused too, but his first thought was that Sesshomaru had finally seen past his foolish hate of humans and realized what a very lovely creature Kagome was. Lucky guy, Miroku himself was never brave enough to risk Inuyasha's wrath and did not try for Kagome after they had started to travel together as friends. Plus, he already had Sango.   
  
Miroku grinned.  
  
Sango saw the familiar hentai grin and knew the houshi was back to thinking his dirty thoughts again, so she gave him a solid whack with her boomerang. How could he be like that at such a crucial time?  
  
On the ground, Miroku sat up and rubbed the new bump on the back of his head,   
  
"Nani?! I was not doing anything this time!" He said, trying to defend himself. He hadn't even realized he started grinning when he was thinking of Sango and...  
  
"Yes, you were and now you're doing it again!!" Sango's shout woke him up from yet another daydream.  
  
"You were thinking something hentai about me again, you...hentai!"  
  
Although it was true, Miroku was not going to give up so easily this time. Getting up, he crossed his arms and said smugly,  
  
"What makes you think I was thinking about you?" he asked her innocently.  
  
"I...I.." Sango stuttered, her face turning red. She didn't know what to say to that. Why had she even something like that in the first place. Searching her mind for some sort of explanation, she couldn't find any, so she simply took the logical, and easier way out.  
  
She knocked him over the head again.  
  
~*~  
  
When Sesshomaru heard Sango's shout, he stopped his assault and looked over. When had they showed up? This might prove to be a bit more difficult than he had thought.   
  
The monk, he could deal with easily. But the demon huntress and her boomerang might prove a bit harder, but the kitsune would not be a problem at all.  
  
Who knows, they might even prove useful.  
  
Smirking, he stopped, then made eye contact with Kouga before sliding his eyes off in the direction of the noisy group so Kouga looked over also.  
  
"It seems your little friends have caught up with you. I wonder what you shall do with all of us attacking you at once?"  
  
His smirk turned into a full, evil grin.  
  
Kouga glanced over to where Miroku, Sango, and Shippo were. He swore under his breath, not wanting Sesshomaru to think he was troubled, and decided to bluff for a while so he could figure out how to escape.  
  
"Those idiots, my friends? No, they're friends of your brother." Kouga used the word, knowing it would infuriate the proud demon-lord, who hated his association to his hanyou sibling. But to his surprise, Sesshomaru did not seem to notice.  
  
Kouga finally decided that although his pride would take a blow, it was the only way out.  
  
He turned around and ran away with Kagome as fast as his Shikon-enhanced legs would carry him.  
  
It wasn't fast enough.  
  
Sesshomaru's claws had started glowing and suddenly his long whip of glowing energy appeared and lashed out to wrap around Kouga's legs, successfully tripping him and making him accidentally throw Kagome into the air.  
  
Jumping into the air himself, Sesshomaru sailed over the fallen Kouga and caught Kagome perfectly.  
  
By now, the bickering Miroku and Sango had stopped and turned to see Kouga fallen face-down on the ground and Sesshomaru bounding off with Kagome.  
  
"No!"  
  
"Kagome!"  
  
~*~  
  
Easily leaving them far behind with his long leaps, Sesshomaru held the still-unconscious girl carefully and looked over to setting sun.  
  
The stars were just beginning to come out and the sky had started to darken.  
  
Although the fading light cast shadows on everything, it seemed to darken Sesshomaru's hair a lot and when the sky was completely dark except for the tiny pinpricks of light from the stars, the demon's eyes appeared to be glow red.  
  
Not as if he were returning to his true demon form, but a different kind of red... 


	8. Both Brothers Back

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 8  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When Sesshomaru leapt off with Kagome, Shippo tried to run after them, but Miroku grabbed the crying kitsune by the tail.  
  
"No, Shippo. You'll never catch up, also, Kouga is still there, and he is still dangerous. We must be wary."  
  
Meanwhile, the wolf-youkai they were talking about was getting up on his bruised and bleeding legs.  
  
"Kagome...so, the brother of the dog-turd has you? Well, I will rescue you. And I will make that miserable dog pay!"  
  
With that, Kouga fainted from loss of blood and collapsed on the road.  
  
Carefully walking up to the wolf-youkai with her boomerang out and ready, Sango examined Kouga, then called back to Miroku and Shippo,  
  
"We should help him. He'll bleed to death if we leave him here."  
  
Miroku stumbled over, still leaning heavily on his staff. Shippo was lightly sniffling on his shoulder.  
  
"Yes, Lady Kagome would want us to help him, although he does not deserve it for trying to kidnap her yet again."  
  
Sango nodded in agreement and between the two of them, they managed to get Kouga back to the cave as the stars began to come out.  
  
Getting the roll of bandages out again, they began to work on wrapping up the sluggishly bleeding wounds on Kouga's legs.   
  
Sesshomaru's whip was sharp.  
  
Wincing at the deepness of the cuts, Shippo turned and looked away from Kouga. Instead, he went to sit near the mouth of the cave and wondered,  
  
'Where are you, Inuyasha? Kagome needed you...'  
  
Suddenly, as if the kitsune's wish had been granted, Inuyasha came bounding from the trees. He was changed already with the black hair and violet eyes, but his temper remained the same. In a second, he was in the cave roaring,  
  
"What is that wimpy WOLF doing here?!"  
  
Miroku got up and walked over to Inuyasha.   
  
"Be quiet, we are treating his wounds."  
  
His voice was quiet and commanding.  
  
"You're telling me what to do now, monk? And where is Kagome, didn't that idiot girl come back yet?"  
  
Inuyasha sat down by the fire, his arms crossed into the sleeves of his haori. He closed his eyes to hide the mild concern that was surfacing.  
  
He tried to ignore them but it didn't work very well.  
  
When Inuyasha had returned and behaved so immaturely, Sango began quietly fuming from where she still sat near the unconscious Kouga, but when Inuyasha had mentioned Kagome...the demon huntress blew up.  
  
"Where do you think she is?! First we found her unconscious in the rain outside the cave after she had left from a fight with you! She was lying on the ground with an injured arm and a broken ankle, Inuyasha! Then Kouga shows up and beats up Miroku and Kirara and takes her! But he didn't get far because that cold-blooded brother of yours almost killed Kouga, then kidnapped Kagome! Well, now she's with him! So where were you all this time?! Where were you when...when Kagome..."  
  
Sango stopped yelling and the whole cave was silent except for her quiet weeping. The whole day was just too much for even her. All these things happening...and now...  
  
Throughout her whole rant, Inuyasha was speechless with shock, but now he had plenty to say; and he said it all loud and angrily.  
  
Halfway through Inuyasha's yells of profanity, Shippo had decided that he couldn't take any more of the colorful language and, with his little hands over his ears, he ran outside to find somewhere to hide, since Kagome wasn't there to make him feel better.  
  
But before he could get far, he bumped into something that felt like a leg.  
  
Looking up, he saw a face that looked expressionlessly down at him and gasped realizing it was...Sesshomaru? 


	9. Confusion

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 9  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The little kitsune was frozen with fear as the older and much stronger youkai glanced down at him. But remembering how he had just took Kagome away, Shippo's heart was filled with vengeful bravery.  
  
"Take this! And give Kagome back!" Shippo shrieked, as he kicked Sesshomaru in the shin and stepped on his foot. Then, the kitsune transformed into a sword, but Sesshomaru, not in the mood to fight a little kit at the moment, simply grabbed the handle of the "sword" and tossed the kitsune towards the cave.  
  
Hearing the high pitched shrieks of Shippo, Sango and Miroku had run outside to see what happened.  
  
A little ball of fur flew through the air and hit Miroku's chest, knocking him to the ground with Shippo laying on the ground by him.  
  
"Shippo-chan? What is it? What's the..."  
  
But Sango stopped abruptly, noticing the demon-lord. Her hand flew to her boomerang and without her usual shout, she threw it in pure rage at Sesshomaru.  
  
But Sesshomaru's glowing whip flew out and wrapped around the boomerang, stopping it and tossing it lazily back to Sango.  
  
When Miroku got up again, he started unwrapping the rosary beads, but spotted Rin, the little human girl who traveled with Sesshomaru, on his shoulder, and quickly wrapped the rosary around his hand again. Rin was a completely innocent girl and if he used his hand now, it would kill her too.  
  
Inuyasha, smelling his brother, also ran out of the cave and spotted Sesshomaru. Remembering Sango's earlier words about him kidnapping Kagome, Inuyasha leapt forward aiming a wild punch at Sesshomaru, that the demon-lord dodged easily.  
  
"Stop. Why do you all attack me?" Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as they met Inuyasha's, "We had an agreement, hanyou."  
  
"Do you think I'm going to respect our little "agreement" now?" Inuyasha pulled out Tetsusaiga and attacked Sesshomaru, calling him a few bad names.  
  
Still expressionless, Sesshomaru easily sidestepped and the furious hanyou skidded into the ground, not being able to stop his wild charge.  
  
"Why are you breaking your word? You said your word was as good as mine, and Sesshomaru never breaks his word. True youkai have honor, hanyou." Sesshomaru said, only mildly disturbed.  
  
"My word?! Do you think I CARE about that after what you've done?" Inuyasha tried a hit at Sesshomaru from the air, but the demon-lord easily dodged that attack also.  
  
"What have I done?" Sesshomaru asked again as Inuyasha picked himself off the ground.  
  
"You kidnapped my woman, bastard!" Inuyasha yelled, not even noticing that he had copied the favorite phrase of a certain wolf-youkai lying unconscious in the cave behind them.  
  
But somehow, even though he was unconscious, Kouga heard the yell from Inuyasha who was battling Sesshomaru outside and leapt up, scattering the bandages and other medicines around him. With a snarl, he ran outside.  
  
"YOUR woman?! She's mine, you dog-turd!"  
  
Stopping with a frustrated growl, Inuyasha momentarily stopped his attacks on Sesshomaru to yell to Kouga,  
  
"You're a freaking moron! Kagome's destined to be with me! She's mine!"   
  
Even though they were in the middle of a serious battle, Miroku couldn't resist a little comment, after he recovered from the shocking announcement,  
  
"So Inuyasha, you're finally admitting your feelings for Lady Kagome, ne?"  
  
This stopped Inuyasha in his tracks as he realized what he had been yelling.   
  
But embarrassment didn't stop Inuyasha for long and the adrenaline rushing through him made him do what Kagome had always stopped.  
  
He attacked Kouga.  
  
The wolf-youkai responded to the challenge, although he was still injured and the two began fighting.  
  
However, Sesshomaru was not forgotten and the duel had turned into a three-way battle with Inuyasha alternating fighting Kouga and Sesshomaru.  
  
Sesshomaru easily dodged all the attacks aimed at him and he sighed, showing the slightest hint of annoyance. Fights with Inuyasha were usually interesting, but this time, the hanyou was completely wild, not even a bit of strategizing, but merely wild punches and kicks.  
  
Finally, even Sesshomaru's patience was worn thin and he decided to stop the fight.  
  
Fisting his hand, he swung and caught Inuyasha on the side of the head.  
  
Inuyasha stumbled back, stunned that Sesshomaru was actually fighting him now.  
  
"Hanyou. Have you forgotten that I had been talking to you at the time your companions said I kidnapped that mortal girl?"  
  
Inuyasha, who had just got up again rubbing his head, started to attack again, but then Sesshomaru's comment sunk in and he stopped.  
  
'That's right, Sesshomaru was with me for almost the whole time after Kagome and I started to head back to the cave. He couldn't have been in two places at once.'  
  
But Inuyasha was still confused. How could Sesshomaru be talking to him, and have been here to kidnap Kagome? Unless...  
  
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed and his lips curled back in a half snarl half growl.  
  
Naraku. 


	10. Naraku

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 10  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Naraku.  
  
Inuyasha snarled when he started figuring it out.  
  
It had to be him again, it had to be that bastard that killed Kikyo 50 years ago...  
  
Inuyasha's hand fisted and he trembled from anger.  
  
Now Naraku had Kagome!  
  
He lowered his head so his bangs would cover his eyes and asked Miroku in a quiet voice,  
  
"Which way did he go, after he took Kagome?"   
  
Miroku was confused, Sesshomaru was right here! Why would Inuyasha want to know which way he went.  
  
"Uh, Inuyasha? Sesshomaru is right here." Miroku said, his voice uneasy.  
  
"You don't think I know that?! I don't care about my brother, which way did that bastard go after he took Kagome?!"  
  
Inuyasha shouted at Miroku, fisting his hand even harder to stop from attacking him in frustration.  
  
"I don't understand, Inuyasha."  
  
Miroku simply stated, and waited for Inuyasha to explain. Even though he knew Inuyasha would try to stay silent until he surrendered and gave him the information, Miroku knew he was more patient than Inuyasha and had made up his mind to not tell the hanyou anything until he had explained.  
  
"Fine. I'll tell you. That "Sesshomaru" that took Kagome was a fake. It was Naraku in disguise...again."  
  
Miroku and Sango gasped when they heard this, but slowly came to realize that Inuyasha told the truth.   
  
Sango felt even more guilty and got more angry at herself. The signs had all been there. Why hadn't she seen through the disguise?  
  
Miroku was also angry that he hadn't seen through the disguise. He was also angry at having passed up another chance to kill Naraku and avenge his family that had all been taken by the curse.  
  
While the two battled with their feelings, Inuyasha impatiently waited for Miroku to tell him where Naraku had went. But soon he realized the monk was too busy with his own thoughts to think of Inuyasha, so he shouted over to him,  
  
"Oi! Monk! Mind telling me where that bastard took Kagome?"  
  
Miroku was startled out of his thoughts and he remembered Inuyasha.  
  
"Right, they went over the trees that way." Miroku pointed out the direction which he had seen the so-called Sesshomaru heading.  
  
"Okay, I'm going by myself now. You guys stay here!" Inuyasha called over his shoulder as he prepared to jump off, but Shippo leapt off Miroku's shoulder and ran over to Inuyasha, clinging to Inuyasha's leg.  
  
"Whah! I'm coming to rescue Kagome too! And you're gonna take me Inuyasha, or else I'll tell her that you've been mean to me!" Shippo cried as he held on to Inuyasha's leg while Inuyasha tried to pry him off. When Inuyasha finally got him to let go, Shippo expected to be tossed through the air, but to his surprise, Inuyasha sat the little kitsune on his shoulder.  
  
"Fine, you can come too, Shippo." Inuyasha said, as he prepared to jump again,  
  
"I-I can?" Shippo asked, surprised that Inuyasha was being nice to him for once.  
  
"Yeah, I guess. Kagome'll be glad to see you."   
  
"Yay!" Shippo cried as he held onto one of Inuyasha's tresses of hair that hung over his shoulder.  
  
"Hey! Watch out! Don't pull on that, it hurts, ya know!"   
  
They heard Inuyasha complain as he leapt through the air with Shippo on his shoulder.  
  
"Wait, Inuyasha! Be careful, Naraku is still a powerful adversary!" Miroku called to the hanyou who was quickly leaping over the treetops.  
  
"Yeah yeah, I'm gonna be fine, hentai. Oh, before I forget, Sesshomaru is gonna need your help, I'm doing him a favor!"  
  
"Now wait, Inuyasha! We never agreed to this!" Sango shouted angrily after the quickly fading figure of the hanyou.  
  
The last they heard from Inuyasha before he got too far away was one of his rare snickers that came with his confident, mocking smirks.  
  
After Inuyasha and Shippo were completely out of sight, Miroku and Sango turned to Sesshomaru, Jaken, and Rin. They also turned to look at the other group.  
  
Neither group spoke.  
  
~*~  
  
As Inuyasha ran after Naraku with Shippo clinging to his shoulder, he began to think about the upcoming fight. He knew this would result in yet another fight with Naraku, but he was confused. Why did Naraku want Kagome to begin with? What use could Naraku possibly have for Kagome?   
  
After all, Inuyasha had the few Shikon shards they had obtained.  
  
Why did he want Kagome?  
  
~*~  
  
Far ahead of them, the fake Sesshomaru, aka Naraku, had already fully changed back to his own form. Now, he walked along the ground, still carrying Kagome.  
  
Suddenly, her eyes fluttered open and she looked around, a bit confused, before realizing she was being carried.  
  
Looking up at her carrier, she realized with it was Naraku.  
  
Feeling her start to move around, Naraku looked down at the now-awake girl in his arms.  
  
He bent his head and whispered something in her ear.  
  
When he pulled away again, the girl nodded.  
  
Naraku began to chuckle and an evil smile appeared on his lips.  
  
The girl was shocked that Naraku was actually smiling, even if it was an evil smile. But soon she got over her little shock.  
  
She began to smirk also. 


	11. A Truce

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 11  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Back outside the cave, neither Miroku nor Sango really knew what to do. Inuyasha had just left them with Sesshomaru telling them to help his demonic half-brother.  
  
"So..."  
  
Miroku said, trying to break the uneasy quiet.  
  
"Silence, human." Sesshomaru cut him off, then, with a quick glance to Rin, he walked into the cave. Rin followed him, coughing.  
  
But Sango wasn't going to be pushed around. She quickly walked to stand in front of the cave entrance, blocking it.  
  
Sesshomaru stopped in front of her and Rin also stopped walking, but she stood behind Sesshomaru, hiding behind him.  
  
"This is our cave. If we're to help you as Inuyasha said, you will not act so superior to us."  
  
Sesshomaru was silent for few moments, as if thinking about the ultimatum, but Miroku was still cautious. Sesshomaru had a tendency to attack when they least expected it. Miroku's hand tightened around his staff.  
  
But luckily, before any violence could ensue, Rin spoke up,  
  
"Sesshomaru-sama? Rin thinks..." she paused and sneezed before continuing, "Rin thinks that Sesshomaru-sama should play nice with them." Rin reached up and tugged on Sesshomaru's right hand that was hanging by his side, the only hand that he had currently.   
  
Sesshomaru looked down at the little human girl pulling on his hand, then, he gave a single nod.  
  
"Very well, there shall be no violence between us. The matter of the Tetsusaiga rests between Inuyasha and I alone."  
  
Sango slowly nodded, then moved to the side so Sesshomaru and Rin could enter the cave.   
  
When she passed Miroku, he whispered to her,  
  
"What do you think this "favor Inuyasha promised Sesshomaru is?"   
  
"I don't know." Sango said, slapping his hand that had begun to roam, "But I think we'll find out soon enough."  
  
Miroku sighed, rubbing his hand,  
  
"Yes, I suppose you're right."  
  
~*~  
  
"Are you done yet?" whined Shippo as he tugged on Inuyasha hair like a rein from his spot on Inuyasha's back.  
  
They had stopped again and Inuyasha was sniffing around the small clearing. At the moment, he was bent down over a light footprint in the mud to the side of the clearing.  
  
Standing up again, he growled, yanking his hair out of the kitsune's paws,  
  
"It was just raining! The scents aren't that strong! Do ya wanna miss the trail?"  
  
"No.." Shippo said, slouching down a bit. Inuyasha started muttering to himself,  
  
"Smells like Naraku. This one smells kinda like Kagome..."   
  
Shippo was quiet for a few moments before he got bored again and started bouncing on Inuyasha's back,  
  
"Are you done yet?"   
  
~*~  
  
"Yes, it seems like she has a fever." Miroku said, taking his hand off Rin's forehead. He had been dreading what Inuyasha's "favor" was, thinking it was going to be some horrible thing they had to do for Sesshomaru, but it seemed that all Sesshomaru wanted was for them to cure Rin, who was sick.  
  
"Is Rin going to be okay, Miroku-sama?" Rin asked Miroku, wondering why they were all so concerned for her.  
  
But Miroku didn't seem to hear her. He was reading in a book that Sango had found in Kagome's backpack. A first aid book.  
  
So, Rin turned her head a bit to look at Sesshomaru, who was sitting away from them near the mouth of the cave. He was by himself, wanting to think.   
  
When they had all sat down inside the cave, Jaken had tried to talk to his master, but the ugly little toad had been tossed to the back of the cave. He barely missed getting singed by the campfire.   
  
Rin knew Sesshomaru enough now to know sometimes the demon lord just wanted to be left alone to his thoughts, so she stayed quiet.   
  
But suddenly, Miroku gasped. He stood up, or...he stood as tall as the little cave would allow, and called out in a loud voice so everyone would hear.  
  
"No one touch Rin. Has anyone touched Rin?"  
  
Sesshomaru, hearing the monk's announcement, stayed sitting by the mouth of the cave, shadowed from them, but he spoke,  
  
"Why? What have you found out, monk?"  
  
"Have you come in contact with Rin at all?"  
  
Rin answered that question for Sesshomaru, to his slight embarrasment,  
  
"Yes! Sesshomaru-sama let Rin hold his hand when Rin was sick!"  
  
Even though this amused Miroku, he knew it was still too serious to laugh. Especially since he would be sliced to ribbons in one swipe if he laughed at Sesshomaru.  
  
"Sesshomaru, you must your hands right now. Or else you might get sick like Rin, and that would be dangerous to a demon of your age."  
  
Sesshomaru turned to face them,  
  
"I am a demon, not a human. I am not vulnerable to your human illnesses."  
  
But Miroku and Sango didn't reply.   
  
They could only stare and gawk. 


	12. Sesshomaru's Chicken Pox

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 12  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sesshomaru gave a sour look to the humans staring at him.  
  
"It's rude to stare." He stated calmly, and was about to turn around again, except Rin, who was wondering why all the adults were so quiet, sat up and turned to look at Sesshomaru.  
  
The silence was broken by a small giggle.  
  
Sesshomaru transferred his piercing gaze to look down at Rin, but this only made the little girl laugh more. Soon, Miroku and Sango couldn't keep it in anymore and both started laughing too.  
  
Finally, Sesshomaru got tired of listening to the pathetic humans and stated,  
  
"If you worthless humans do not explain yourselves now, I shall tear your hearts out."  
  
The laughter stopped immediately.  
  
But when Rin decided to tell Sesshomaru what they were laughing at, her voice still held a touch of laughter.  
  
"Sesshomaru-sama has a big, red spot on his nose! Just like Rin!"  
  
Rin pointed to her chicken pox.  
  
Then Sango went to Kagome's backpack and took out the small mirror that she had seen Kagome use before.  
  
She tossed it to Sesshomaru, who caught between two of his claws, and held it up to look at his face.  
  
There were several itchy red spots already, but the biggest one was right on the tip of his nose.  
  
Lowering the mirror, he glared at all of them, showing the most emotion that they had ever seen from the expressionless demon-lord.  
  
Of course, this started them all laughing again.  
  
When they finally stopped this time, Sango spoke up,  
  
"Well, actually, it isn't so funny. This is a serious matter." Sango said, glaring at Miroku, who was still trying to keep a large grin off his face.  
  
"What? Oh, yes. It is very serious, for a demon of your age, Sesshomaru."  
  
"Is Sesshomaru-sama gonna be okay?" Rin asked, looking worriedly at the adults.  
  
"We'll see Rin, for now, we must hope that his demonic blood will be enough; Lady Kagome's medicine is only enough for you, Rin."  
  
Miroku told her, taking out a small bottle of medicine from Kagome's pack, which got his hand slapped by Sango.  
  
"Don't look around in Kagome's pack!"  
  
Miroku nodded, backing away to hide behind Rin and rubbing his slapped hand.  
  
~*~  
  
Later that night, Rin was already beginning to get better. Her low fever was gone completely and she was napping at the moment.  
  
However, Sesshomaru's chicken pox seemed to be getting worse. He now had little red dots going down his arms as well as his face. And because of Rin, there was no more medicine to give him.  
  
So Jaken had been sent out in the rain that had started again, to try to find some herbs that would cure or at least help cure this disease.  
  
Of course, the demon-lord was silently fuming at himself for catching a weak mortal's illness. He decided that it was the priest and the demon-huntress who were at fault and decided to kill them when he felt better.   
  
Glancing at the humans who seemed to be asleep, he slowly raised a clawed finger to scratch at the itchy dots, but he heard someone clear his throat and saw Miroku with an eye open, glancing lazily at him.   
  
Sesshomaru sniffed, then lifted his hand to run it through his hair, as if that had been his intention all along.   
  
The monk shook his head, then turned his attention to Sango and slowly inched over to sit next to her. The sleeping demon-huntress sighed in her sleep and tilted her head to lean on his shoulder, making Miroku grin as he closed his eyes again to go back to sleep.  
  
Sesshomaru looked disgustedly at the pair of humans and shifted, trying to repress the itchyness of the "chicken pox" as the humans had called it.   
  
Remembering that it was the fault of the humans, Sesshomaru amended his previous thought and decided to kill them painfully.  
  
With this happy thought, Sesshomaru leaned back against the wall he was sitting at, wrapped his fluffy tail around himself, and tried to fall asleep.  
  
~*~  
  
Meanwhile, Shippo had finally convinced Inuyasha to stop for the night, since the rain had started again.  
  
They sat in a large tree, where the leaves and branches blocked most of the rain like an umbrella.   
  
Inuyasha was exhausted, they had not stopped all day, and he quickly fell asleep.  
  
But the kitsune sitting on his shoulder could not sleep that easily. Usually, he curled up on Kagome's sleeping bag, and was lulled to sleep by her hand gently petting his head, but tonight he was cold and wet and alone.   
  
Well, except for Inuyasha.   
  
So Shippo sat on Inuyasha's shoulder, staring up at the leaves and branches in the canopy of the tree above him.  
  
But suddenly, he heard a sound, and sharply looked down.  
  
Hopping off Inuyasha's shoulder, he grabbed onto the branch they were sitting on and tried to look down to the ground, but he couldn't see anything.  
  
Instead, he tried to sniff out a scent, but the strange scents of this forest made it impossible for his young nose to sort them all out.   
  
It smelled kinda like a human, but also a demon? It was confusing.  
  
So he decided, reluctantly, to wake up Inuyasha, though he knew he was going to get hit again for disturbing the hanyou's sleep.  
  
Jumping up to Inuyasha's shoulder again, he reached up and caught a twitching doggy ear and poked it. To his surprise, the hanyou only turned his head towards Shippo and started...purring?!   
  
Then Inuyasha started to mutter something. Bending his head down, Shippo started giggling when he heard what Inuyasha was saying.  
  
"Kagome? That feels good..."   
  
Forgetting completely about the sound he had heard below, Shippo decided to play a little trick on Inuyasha.  
  
Imitating Kagome's voice, he quietly asked Inuyasha,  
  
"Inuyasha? Do you love me?"  
  
"Ka-kagome? I had this dream that Naraku kidnapped you and I was searching for you..."  
  
Shippo paused to quietly giggle some more at his joke, then asked again,  
  
"Inuyasha, do you love me?"  
  
For a second, Inuyasha looked like he was going to wake up, but then settled back again and answered,  
  
"Um...well..I...l-love? Uh..."  
  
Shippo was starting to get impatient, but he tried again,  
  
"Inuyasha, do you love me?"   
  
This time, Shippo made his voice trembly, as if he was ready to cry. Of course, Inuyasha had no power against Kagome's tears, so he decided to just admit it.  
  
"Yes, I don't know when I started loving you, but I did."   
  
"Kagome loves you too, Inuyasha."   
  
Shippo said before he started giggling some more. Then he decided to stop pushing his luck and decided to end the joke.   
  
After one more little question.  
  
Picking up a clump of moss on the tree, he held it up in front of Inuyasha.  
  
Then, he imitated Kagome's voice again,  
  
"Inuyasha? Would you like to kiss me?"  
  
Inuyasha's face turned surprised, but then it settled into a happy smirk. Ah well, since he already told Kagome he loved her, why not?  
  
"Heck yeah!"  
  
So Shippo took the moss and threw it at Inuyasha's face, then scrambled to the end of the branch.  
  
When the wet moss hit his face, Inuyasha blinked, waking up.   
  
He was confused.   
  
Then, he realized it was a dream.   
  
His face turned bright red.   
  
But he was so sure that Kagome's voice was real. And who threw the wet moss at him?   
  
Glaring around in the darkness, he spotted Shippo, with a huge grin on his face, and lunged at the kitsune.  
  
"Why you little...!" He yelled, and tried to grab Shippo to pound him, but the fox nimbly leapt over his head and started scrambling up the branches of the tree.  
  
"Aww, c'mon Inuyasha! Can't ya take a joke?"  
  
Inuyasha answered with a snarl and started leaping up through the branches.  
  
"Okay, okay! I apologize, alright? I'm sorry!" Shippo panted, out of breath and realizing that he couldn't outclimb Inuyasha, even though it was the night of the new moon.  
  
Inuyasha stopped, he was still tired, even after his nap. With a snort, he sat down on the branch, folded his sleeves, and tried to go back to sleep.  
  
Shippo just couldn't resist one last comment.   
  
It wasn't Shippo's smartest move.   
  
"Kissy kissy, Inu-chan!" Shippo called down, in an imitation of Kagome's voice again.   
  
With a snarl that echoed through the forest, Inuyasha jumped up again. 


	13. Kouga's Demise

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 13  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kouga.  
  
So, where has that wolf-youkai disappeared to in this mess? Well, last time we saw him, he had been in the middle of a battle with Sesshomaru and Inuyasha way back in Chapter 9!   
  
So, it's only right that I pick up where I left off with Kouga...  
  
~*~  
  
When Inuyasha had repeatedly shouted to all of them that Kagome was "his", Kouga had, of course, been very, very angry. But, showing an intelligence that no one knew the simple youkai possessed, Kouga decided there was no use arguing with Inuyasha, and as soon as Inuyasha's fight with Sesshomaru distracted him, Kouga left.  
  
In the shadows just outside the cave, Kouga listened to their conversation and when Inuyasha and the little fox left to find Kagome, Kouga followed.  
  
Usually Kouga would have been wary of the dog-turd's senses, which were unusually good for a hanyou, but tonight was the new moon and all he had to worry about was that fox, but at least it was still a kit.  
  
When Inuyasha and Shippo had stopped for the night, Kouga also stopped.   
  
However, he had been around enough hanyous to know that Inuyasha would be back to normal again in the morning and with the return of his demonic blood would come his heightened senses.   
  
So, Kouga took great care in hiding himself in a nearby cave,, completely covering his tracks, both prints and scent.  
  
But in the middle of the night, the bickering of those two had woken Kouga, who sat up grumpily from where he lay curled up in a corner of the cave. Stretching sleepily and yawning, Kouga started thinking how easy it would be to kill Inuyasha when he was human like this, but luckily for Inuyasha, Kouga decided it would be better to let dog-turd live...for now.  
  
After a few minutes of trying to go back to sleep amidst the noises of Inuyasha attempting to kill Shippo, Kouga decided it was hopeless and went outside for a walk, or maybe a hunt; after all, he had missed dinner.  
  
Sniffing around, he picked up a human scent and decided to follow it. Maybe he could find a human to exercise his murderous feelings toward Inuyasha, which had sprung up when the wolf-youkai was rudely awoken in the middle of the night.  
  
When he finally caught up with the scent, he was getting pretty far from Inuyasha. Instead, he found that he was going back in the general direction of the cave where the other humans who traveled with Kagome were staying.  
  
Easily leaping over a large bush, he found himself in a small clearing and looked around. There was a young boy standing in the middle of it.  
  
Kouga smirked, so, this was the human prey that he had tracked. The boy really should've known better than to come out alone in the middle of the night. There were plenty of demons lurking about and, who knows, one of the demons might find such a vulnerable boy fun to kill.  
  
Well, Kouga was going to show this boy just what would happen under such circumstances.  
  
With a cocky smile on his face, Kouga walked forward and called out,  
  
"Oi!"  
  
But the boy didn't seem to hear him. Kouga tried again,  
  
"Hey, you there, boy!"  
  
But the human boy merely stood there. Now it was obvious that he was ignoring Kouga.  
  
Kouga was not happy.  
  
He would teach this kid that a wolf-youkai wasn't someone to be messed with.  
  
With a growl, Kouga leapt forward and aimed a kick at the back of the boy's knees, hoping to bring him down, but the boy had taken a step forward; just enough for Kouga's kick to miss. Then, he swung his scythe-like blade that was attached to a chain and it hit Kouga across the arm, ripping open a long cut.   
  
Now the boy turned around to face Kouga.  
  
When his kick had failed to strike anything, Kouga had prepared to land agilely on the ground when he felt a blade tearing into his arm and trailing a cut all the way down to his elbow.   
  
Kouga fell heavily to the ground, plowing sideways into it on his newly injured arm.  
  
The pain was incredible, even to a demon. With his uninjured arm, Kouga clutched the other one to his chest as best as he could, considering the fact that he had rolled over and was now facedown on the ground.  
  
After a few deep breaths, he struggled to get up and saw that the wounds on his legs from earlier had opened up and were flowing blood again.   
  
And even though Kouga tried his best, he couldn't get his wounded legs to support him fell face-first into the ground again, after kneeling for a split second.  
  
Blinking, Kouga tried to stay conscious even though the fast loss of blood was making his vision slightly blurred and everything seemed dimmed.  
  
He saw a pair of feet come into his view and lifted his head to gaze up at the boy standing before him.   
  
Now he realized his mistake; the boy had the uniform of a demon extermiator and Kouga had heard stories of the infamous village of professinal demon slayers which was the subject of many frightening rumors. Some of them told that these "exterminators", as they called themselves, started training when they were barely old enough to stand.  
  
A sudden chill went through Kouga and he shuddered.  
  
Why hadn't he noticed it before?  
  
But a small voice at the back of his head told him that it was nighttime and even Kouga's sharp canine eyes couldn't spot everything.   
  
There was also the fact that Kouga had charged forward to attack the boy without thinking him as any kind of threat.  
  
Cursing his stupidity, Kouga squeezed his eyes shut as another wave of pain went through him, reminding him of his painful state.  
  
Then he decided that it was useless; even if the boy went back to ignoring him, Kouga knew the loss of blood alone would kill him.   
  
A flood of sadness suddenly hit him as he realized all he would give up by dying.   
  
His pack wouldn't stand a chance without him there, but he hoped they would find another pack to join up with so the pups weren't left vulnerable.   
  
The pups...   
  
A new litter were due in about a week, but he wouldn't get to see them.  
  
Of course, aside from his youkai comrades there were also humans. Well, actually, there was only one human he cared about. A particular human girl.   
  
Kagome.  
  
A small growl of frustration escaped his quickly paling lips. If he died it would leave the path completely open to the dog-turd!  
  
The one that was always competing with him, even though Kouga loved Kagome!  
  
Wait! Loved?   
  
Kouga thought about this for a second, startled. Did he love Kagome? Could youkai even love? He knew that most only took a mate so they would have an heir. But maybe he...  
  
Yes! He did love Kagome! Why else would he be able to completely ignore the fact that she was human and their pups would be hanyous?  
  
But that didn't matter. He loved Kagome.  
  
A new strength filled Kouga and he suddenly decided that for Kagome, his love, he would go out fighting.  
  
This thought encouraged him and from out of nowhere, Kouga summoned up the strength to leap up and take one last swipe at the boy.  
  
Usually, Kouga didn't use his claws, preferring to kick, but even though his love for Kagome gave him one last boost of strength, he didn't have nearly enough to jump now.  
  
The boy's back was turned again, but he seemed to know what was coming and took a step forward, just barely missing being pinned through his neck on Kouga's claws.  
  
But even though the boy was fast, Kouga was faster.   
  
The tip of his claws managed to slice a thin line on the boy's next, abruptely stopping on a small, red bump.   
  
But the tip of Kouga's claw had dug into the skin and even with the little strength he had, Kouga managed to dig his claws in even more and cut a small piece of skin off; the bump.  
  
Suddenly, the boy fell to his knees, the blade falling from his hand and the chain also clattering down to fall into a small pile next to the blade.   
  
He lifted his shaking hands up to his face and sobbed into them, choking and gasping at the same time.  
  
Kouga's quickly blacking vision gave him a last quick glance at the boy before the youkai also fell to the ground.  
  
His consciousness was quickly leaving him; the last effort at killing the boy draining him of any strength.  
  
Kouga began to feel light-headed because the small amount of blood left in him wasn't enough to provide him with sufficient air.  
  
He knew he was going to die, but, a final smirk appeared on his face. At least he had brought his killer down with him.  
  
Then, the smirk was slowly replaced with a smile; a real smile, one that reached to his distant eyes.   
  
Maybe someday, when Kagome had lived out her mortal lifespan, she would join him...  
  
Then, they would be together. 


	14. Chicken Pox and Demon Blood

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 14  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
In the morning back at the cave, there was a much better mood.   
  
Well, sort of.  
  
Rin had made a full recovery. Now, she was better than ever and her health was completely fine, not one scar from the chicken pox.  
  
But things were far from happy.  
  
It seemed that Chicken Pox should not mix with demon blood, well, at least not the demon blood of a certain emotionless dog-youkai.  
  
Sesshomaru's chicken pox were all gone and there was no trace of them left, even with all his disobedient scratching. But now Sesshomaru seemed to be suffering from a mix of illnesses including symtoms of the flu and colds.   
  
He had a high fever and was constantly in a bad mood.   
  
As the day wore on, they all began to pity Jaken who was covered with bruises from being randomly snatched up by his master and tossed out of the cave. The worst bump had been from only a few moments ago, when the fever had made Sesshomaru dizzy and he had flung the toad the opposite way, right into the hard, cold stone at the back of the cave.  
  
Miroku sighed and walked over to where the demon now sat, his eyes a bit unfocused. He grabbed Sesshomaru by the shoulder not wrapped by his fluffy tail and pushed him down to the ground.  
  
Sango also came over holding out Kagome's unzipped sleeping bag.   
  
A few minutes later, they had Sesshomaru bundled and zipped up in the red sleeping bag.   
  
The biggest trouble they had was when they were trying to figure out what to do with his tail. In the end, it was Rin who had solved this problem, telling them that when Sesshomaru had been forced to sleep on the ground, he used his tail as a pillow so his hair wouldn't get dirty.  
  
Miroku and Sango had exchanged a few strange looks before they decided to listen to Rin.  
  
Now, Sesshomaru slept peacefully in the back of the cave, his silver-haired head resting on his fluffy and very, very light pink tail.  
  
~*~  
  
As Sesshomaru napped, Miroku and Sango went to sit outside the cave and they began to talk (and argue) about where Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo were.  
  
Sango was worried,  
  
"They should've been back by now! It's been a day since Inuyasha left!"  
  
But Miroku was surprisingly calm. He took Sango's hand and gave it a little squeeze.  
  
"Do not forget, Inuyasha was human when he left. He cannot travel as fast like that, especially since he has to track like us humans, instead of using his sense of smell."  
  
Sango gave a little nod, acknowlidging that Miroku had a point. Then, her eyes went to gaze out over the forest as she started to think.  
  
Never missing a chance to be lecherous, even at a time like this, Miroku gave Sango's hand that he still held another comforting squeeze. Then, the cursed hand moved to another part of Sango's body, giving that a little squeeze too.  
  
~*~  
  
Inside the cave, Rin winced as she heard the sound of Sango's slap echoing in their little cave.   
  
She glanced over to Sesshomaru, who had started coughing again and sighed miserably. She didn't mean to make Sesshomaru-sama sick, but she felt like it was all her fault.  
  
Deciding that she had to be by herself for a bit, Rin got up and sneaked easily past the fighting humans who were supposed to be guarding the door.   
  
Not much of a challenge.  
  
She quietly walked off in the other direction into the woods and looked around.   
  
The bright morning sunlight was shining through the leaves hanging from branches overhead giving everything a soft green glow. Rin could hear some birds chirping and the rustling of the leaves when a light wind blew past, catching a few strands of her hair and tossing them around playfully.  
  
Clasping her hands behind her back, Rin straightened and started humming softly.   
  
She didn't really know what song it was, probably from her childhood or something. Maybe her mother taaught it to her. Rin suddenly stopped and sniffed, rubbing a hand over her eyes. The walk was supposed to make her feel better, not worse!  
  
She sighed wistfully. Life with Sesshomaru-sama was good, even though Jaken was a little annoying sometimes. She just wished she could remember something about her past. She knew that she had died before and Sesshomaru-sama had revived her, maybe that was why she couldn't remember anything! She would have to ask him...but her heart suddenly sank. She didn't know if she remembered her past before her death. Maybe she had forgotten a long time ago.  
  
Rin was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even see the metal blade lying on the ground in front of her until she tripped over it!  
  
Her foot caught in the chain and she fell, accidentally slicing a cut on her foot.  
  
Rin tried to get up, but the cut stopped her from walking, so instead, she propped herself up on her elbows and looked around.  
  
She found herself in some sort of clearing. She also saw that she had tripped over someone's weapon and winced. Sesshomaru-sama had always warned her about sharp things.  
  
But suddenly she became scared, what if the person who owned the blade would get mad at her? Rin shuddered, not wanting to anger anyone when she was outside alone. She wished Sesshomaru-sama was here.  
  
Rin waited, knowing that she couldn't walk, and after a while when no one had come to kill her, she looked around again and saw a boy, a few years older than her, sprawled out on the ground across the clearing, sheltered under a large tree.   
  
Hesistantly getting up, Rin crawled over to him, wincing whenever she touched her injury.  
  
When she got over to him, she sat up next to him and looked curiously at the boy. He seemed to be asleep.  
  
He had black hair long enough to be tied up a bit. He also had long black bangs that covered his face. He seemed to be fine, and only seemed to be resting there. But he had weird clothes.  
  
Rin had never seen anything like them, but they looked like some sort of armor. Suddenly, she remembered one time when they had met a demon hunter. Of course Sesshomaru-sama had killed him, but now Rin's finally gotten to meet one that's alive!   
  
Strange though, he seemed to be about her age, but maybe a bit older.   
  
Slowly moving her hand forward, Rin carefully pushed his bangs up and looked at his face for the first time.  
  
She was right! The demon-hunter was just her age.  
  
Suddenly, the boy began moving! His eyes opened and he stared right into the large brown eyes that were staring back into his 


	15. Author's Note

Sorry, this isn't a real update. I just wanted to let you, my readers, know that this story is sort of on hold for now. I'm rethinking the plot because somewhere along the way I lost track of it and I can't think of what to write.  
  
Evil writer's block.   
  
Usually I get through it, but, as you can see, it's been a while since I've updated.  
  
The plot for this story is getting a bit cliche and I want any story I write to be a personal best and I don't feel the direction this fic is heading is my best work.  
  
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that it might be a while, but if you want me to let you know when I do finally update this story, leave your e-mail in a review or something. Or e-mail me at sunca88@yahoo.com  
  
Now for the good news! I've started two new fics and the plot for those are much more promising. Strange the number of fic ideas you get in Science class. But then again, I get plently of time to think with my teacher. *rolls eyes*  
  
For details, look in my bio!  
  
Thanks again for all your support when I was working on my fic. You guys are the reason I write fanfiction and I write for my readers.  
  
Ja ne for now! 


	16. Kohaku and Rin

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 15  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They stared like that for a few moments, before Rin suddenly blushed and took her hand away, sitting back down. Kohaku, the young boy, blushed and pulled away too.  
  
But suddenly his eyes filled as he remembered something. Or someone. Many someones.  
  
Kohaku was released from Naraku's evil spell, but his memory had completely returned and he remembered way too clearly about he people he slaughtered. Whole villages, his friends, and his family. His father was gone because of him.  
  
As the tears suddenly flooded down, he choked and tried to stand up, getting to his feet for a few seconds before falling down again. Scrambling behind the tree he had been sitting under, the nausea overtook him.   
  
Rin was startled by the sudden change in nature of the boy. She was a little scared and wondered why he was crying. Getting up, she tentatively walked behind the tree, holding her nose. She was just a little girl and little girls did not like throw up.   
  
She found Kohaku crouched on the ground facing away from her, breathing heavily. Slowly walking forward, she stopped when she got to him and reached a small hand out to lay on his back.  
  
When she placed her hand on his back, a shiver ran through him and he slowly turned his head to look at her.  
  
Rin couldn't stiffle a quiet gasp. His eyes. His eyes were the saddest eyes she had ever seen. They held a degree of pain and grief that the naive girl never even knew existed. And she aged. Rin gained years of maturity in those few seconds of looking into his eyes.   
  
Her other hand went to his and held it firmly in his own as she pulled him towards her.  
  
Kohaku tried to get his hand free, but Rin held onto it.  
  
Without hesitating, she hugged him.   
  
He tried to pull away, a strangled sob coming from him, but she held on.   
  
After a few moments, he relaxed a bit and his head bowed to rest on Rin's shoulder producing an almost comical picture since she was so much shorter than him.  
  
After a few more moments, they both pulled away.  
  
Kohaku was blushing again and when Rin teared her eyes from him and noticed the blush, she also began blushing a bright, bright red.  
  
"Um...I'm Rin. What's your name?"  
  
"Kohaku." he whispered, and Rin smiled. He had a really gentle voice despite carrying such a dangerous looking blade and being covered with blood.  
  
"Hi, Kohaku." she said back, a cheerful smile appearing on her face.  
  
A very small smile appeared on Kohaku's face. The first since so long ago when Naraku's trickery had forced Kohaku to kill his own family and friends.  
  
"Hi, Rin." he said, his voice a little louder and a hint of the smile on his face showing through his voice. 


	17. Fireflies

Disclaimer~ Me no own Inu~  
  
A/N~ A very long chapter for me. It came out to about 6 pages! Although most of it is fluff to delay while I think of a plot! ^_^ PS: I love fireflies, don't you? I remember chasing fireflies when I was little. I still do! ^_^;  
  
~~~~~Reviewer Replies~~~~~  
  
jade-inu~ Glad you liked it!  
  
Ms.Pan Son~ Thanks!  
  
Kawaii Kokkei Tsuita no Neko~ ^_^  
  
Ronna~ Yep, I'm hoping to stick with it to the end since I've already gotten this far!  
  
mkitty-chan~ I'm stubborn so I'll try to finish it although it might be a little longer than the 20 chapters I planned since its already at chapter 16. 3 chars I hate? Hmm, Naraku and Jaken for sure. And Kikyou. Although she's actually important to the plot I still don't like her. But she does add some very juicy moments...still, Kagome and Inuyasha! (except when I'm going through my little M/S phases)  
  
~~~~~  
  
Thanks to all my reviewers! I know I've said that before, but you are the reason I write and you're my inspiration and you guys rule! ^_^  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 16  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Kagura."  
  
The wind youkai appeared instantly and stood awaiting her orders. Naraku's dark profile was easily discernable against the darkening sky outside as the sun set. He sat on the window sill facing away from her and staring outside. After a few moments of silence, Naraku spoke,  
  
"Kikyou has informed me that after her...'talk' with her reincarnation, she simply left the girl there."  
  
Kagura waited patiently for Naraku to continue, knowing that he would do so when he felt it was right to.  
  
Naraku could be such a dramatic, but all these 'suspenseful' silences did was annoy the heck out of her.  
  
So Kagura amused herself by looking around the room. Her gaze fell upon a wooden figure-another puppet of Naraku. She was wondering what this one was set out to accomplish when Naraku continued,  
  
"I want you to bring her back here."  
  
Kagura was puzzled and cautiously asked,  
  
"Sir, we already have their Shikon shards. And that hanyou already thinks we have the girl. Surely we don't need her?"  
  
Naraku slowly turned from the window, his eyes seemingly glowing red and invisible miasma streaming off his to form a dark aura around him,  
  
"Are you questioning my orders, Kagura?"  
  
His tone made it perfectly clear what would happen to her if she said yes.  
  
"No."  
  
"Good. Leave immediately." Without another word, Naraku turned back to the window.  
  
Dismissed, Kagura rushed out of the room.  
  
~*~  
  
"Come on, Kohaku-kun!" Rin pleaded, beckoning to him, but Kohaku shook his head, almost sadly.   
  
"No, Rin. I can't!"   
  
But Rin just ran back to him and latched onto his arm, trying to pull him.  
  
Blushing, Kohaku tried to get her off without hurting her, but Rin wouldn't let go.  
  
"Please?" Rin asked, looking up to him with large, watery brown eyes.  
  
Kohaku turned away, not wanting to make her cry, but he couldn't go with her!  
  
"But Kohaku, if you're Sango-san's brother she'll be so happy if you come!" Rin reasoned.  
  
They had spent the whole afternoon chatting like old friends about everything. Except Kohaku's past.  
  
The boy really didn't want to talk about it, but Rin got that little bit of information when she mentioned Sango waiting for her back in the cave.   
  
It was then that Kohaku realized that Rin somehow wound up travelling with his sister's group. The group he had tried to kill many times.  
  
His guilt had sunk in again, the guilt that he almost managed to forget while romping around a bright, sunny meadow chasing butterflies with Rin.  
  
Now the sky was beginning to darken and Rin was trying to convince him to go back to the cave with her.  
  
But Kohaku was decided. He stayed sat on the ground. Rin sighed, then came to sit next to him, waiting for him to explain.  
  
"My sister...no, she wouldn't want to see me." Kohaku muttered, his soft, sad voice coming from under his bangs that covered his lowered face.  
  
Rin, although just a little kid, somehow knew that Kohaku didn't want to talk about it, so she crawled behind him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his back.   
  
Kohaku stiffened and a blush crept up on his cheeks. Rin didn't notice.  
  
"It's okay, Kohaku-kun. Rin will stay with you for a little bit longer, then." she told him in a cheerful voice.  
  
Kohaku relaxed, closing his eyes for a moment, reveling in the peace as the sky darkened considerably and the stars began to show up.  
  
Suddenly, he heard a delightful gasp from behind him and the warm arms slid away. Kohaku was a bit disappointed, but looked up at her when she held her hand out for him.  
  
"Fireflies!" she pointed at the swarm of fireflies that had surrounded them. Kohaku saw the grin that lit her face and he slowly held up his hand to hers. Rin grabbed it with her smaller one and hauled him up. But she didn't let go.   
  
Pulling him with her, she began to run around trying to catch a firefly. A while later, when Kohaku felt secure enough again, they let go of each other's hands to run around more freely.   
  
Rin jumped up, trying to grab at a firefly that hovered above her, but couldn't reach it. Kohaku, seeing her dilemma, ran over and his hands darted out to cup around the little firefly. Bringing it down to eye level, he slowly opened his hands and revealed the bright insect.   
  
Rin clapped her hands, then held out a finger for the firefly, who slowly walked forward to rest on her hand. She giggled, the little feet of the firefly tickled her palm.  
  
Kohaku began to laugh too and they both laughed until Rin was shaking with so much laughter that the terrified firefly opened its wings and flew up.  
  
Finally quieting, they both turned their heads up to watch their firefly fly up and up until its little dot was silhouetted against the moon.  
  
~*~  
  
Outside the cave, Miroku blinked the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. About to raise his arms to stretch, he noticed the warmth against his side and turned a sleep-fogged head to investigate.  
  
He awakened instantly.  
  
Sango?!  
  
...Sango.  
  
His face softened into a sincere, love-filled smile at the woman he had fallen in love with. She was so beautiful, so peaceful...unlike her violent attitude towards him when she was awake.  
  
Of course, the thought of his violent Sango lead his thoughts to why she often hit him over the head or threatened him: because he couldn't resist her.  
  
Now a hentai grin spread over Miroku's face.  
  
The arm that had been innocently wrapped around Sango's shoulders shifted just a bit so his hand could creep lower...and lower...and...  
  
~*~  
Back in the cave, Sesshomaru was not pleased. Finally his little bout of sickness was diminishing, but Rin still wasn't back.  
  
A pointed ear twitched and Sesshomaru knew the humans were finally finished with their little nap.   
  
"Hentai!" the female shouted, obviously at the male who had given in to his sultry desires again.   
  
Sesshomaru shook his head. Humans in love; what a pathetic sight.  
  
Humans were despicable in every way, he thought to himself, but then his heart twinged. A part of his heart Sesshomaru was sure he never had. A part that was beginning to thaw.   
  
But why?  
  
An image of a chipped-toothed, grinning Rin appeared to him and he sighed, remembering the orphan girl he had unknowingly come to love and adopt.  
  
Finally Sesshomaru, the demon prince with a heart of stone and ice, admitted to loving the little human girl who was like a daughter.  
  
And the most puzzling part of it all was that he didn't mind.   
  
But now that he accepted it, his mind was filled with worry. Like a cracking dam that finally broke, Sesshomaru let out all his feelings for Rin.   
  
Standing, he began to stride towards the exit of the cave.  
  
"M-m'lord!" Jaken called and scrambled up, blocking Sesshomaru's way,  
  
"You must not get up Sesshomaru-sama! You're still healing!" the little toad cried, flinging himself at his lord's feet and trying to push him back.  
  
But too bad for Jaken, Sesshomaru was not in a patient mood.   
  
Spinning around wordlessly, Sesshomaru faced the fire at the back of the cave. Jaken hung on, not knowing what was going on. With a quick kick, Jaken flew off Sesshomaru's foot and hit the stone wall at the back of the cave. Stunned, he slid off and fell to the ground. Unfortunately, he was half in the fire.   
  
Screeching, Jaken leapt away to a safer place and yanked off his burning cap, throwing it to the ground and stamping on it, burning his feet in the process. When he finally calmed, Sesshomaru was gone.  
  
~*~  
  
"Shit." Inuyasha muttered. The sky had darkened too much to keep travelling. Normally, he would've kept going by scent but Naraku's miasma covered the area and dampened his senses. Not to mention the fact that they were far behind since last night had to be his human night. They were getting left far behind.   
  
"Wha?" Shippo asked sleepily from his place on Inuyasha's shoulder,  
  
"Where are we?"  
  
Inuyasha kept silent. From his convenient spot on Inuyasha's shoulder, Shippo easily reached up and grabbed an ear, tugging on it and yelling into it,  
  
"I said, where are we!"  
  
Inuyasha snarled, shaking his head so the kitsune would lose his grip.  
  
"We're stopping for the night."  
  
"Oh." Shippo said, then his weariness overcame him and he fell back asleep.  
  
Inuyasha shook his head and muttered incomprehensible sounds including some growls and sighs.  
  
Truth was, he was a little guilty for pushing the kit so much. He could take the hard travelling, but Shippo couldn't. He should've known and stopped.  
  
Still, he snorted, it wasn't like the kit was actually running or anything. Nope, Shippo just sat on a shoulder.  
  
Glancing up, he jumped and came down on a branch high up a tree. Taking Shippo off his shoulder, Inuyasha settled the kitsune in his lap protectively and leaned his head back to rest.   
  
Not sleep. He was too anxious to sleep and it was a dangerous forest.  
  
As if to prove his point, a youkai on the ground grunted to get his attention, the gestured at the kit in his arms, smacking its lips.  
  
Inuyasha just tightened his arms and growled warningly at the youkai, who was confused at this dog demon who seemed to have adopted a kitsune. It was unheard of, usually demons just ate orphans; infants were such a rare treat.   
  
Shrugging, the simple youkai decided not to mess with the protective hanyou and left on its way.  
  
Inuyasha loosened his arms around Shippo and leaned his head back again.   
  
Well, maybe he did care about the kit...just a little. Plus, Kagome seemed to like Shippo a lot. Yeah, that's it, he's protecting Shippo for Kagome.   
  
Yep.  
  
With that, he nodded off to sleep.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Review! Please? 


	18. Ramen Brothers

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
Chapter 17  
  
by sunny1388  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Ugh..."  
  
The wolf-youkai groaned, lifting an arm to rub his aching head when he felt a shooting pain rush up it. Blinking his clouded blue eyes, he managed to see that his arm was swarthed in makeshift bandages.  
  
"Kouga!"  
  
A female voice stated, obviously surprised.  
  
Deciding not to turn his pounding head, Kouga sniffed to try and figure out the identity of the girl  
  
...  
  
Kagome?!  
  
"Kagome? Wha...what happened?"  
  
Kagome's head moved into his field of vision, looking down at him, her expression worried.  
  
"I found you, practically dead in the forest!"  
  
With that, Kagome used a sleeve of her blouse to wipe at her moist eyes,  
  
Kouga tried a confident smirk to comfort her,  
  
"You were worried?"  
  
He startled Kagome into staring down at him again and noticed a bit of fire in her eyes,  
  
"Of course I was worried, Kouga-kun! You're my friend!"  
  
Kouga blinked, hoping for more than 'friend' but Kagome didn't notice and ranted on,  
  
"I mean, you were covered in blood and I didn't know what to do! I finally found a friend and I thought you were dead! And-"  
  
But Kouga cut her off with a short laugh,  
  
"Well, I'm fine now."  
  
But then his thoughts turned to how he was injured and his memories rushed back in a flash. The demon-exterminating boy and his fight, tracking Inuyasha and that fox kit, that battle with Sesshomaru...!  
  
"Kagome, how'd you escape from dogturd's brother?"  
  
~*~  
  
Inuyasha cocked his head in midleap high in the air above the treetops with the sleeves of his haori fluttering out behind him. An interesting scent had just reached his sensitive nose...  
  
When he landed, he turned his head upwards and took a few delicate sniffs, testing the air and trying to catch that scent again. It was very faint, so faint that he wasn't even sure if he had just imagined it. But...no, he caught it again. He wasn't mistaken.  
  
With a growl, he leapt up again, not even hearing Shippo's quiet inquiry.  
  
Kagura.  
  
~*~  
  
Sesshomaru walked silently through the darkening forest searching for Rin. Even though he was mostly over his bout of sickness, his nose was still not as good as usual and Rin's scent trail was a few hours old.  
  
Following it, he eventually arrived at a large meadow. Looking around, he spotted a dot of color under a tree at the opposite side and quickly strode over.  
  
Sitting under the tree was Rin, asleep.  
  
Looking around to check that no one was watching, Sesshomaru leaned down and carefully picked her up, cradling her in his arms with her head resting against his fluffy tail that was wrapped around one his shoulders.  
  
Rin unconsciously snuggled against the familiar tail and smiled.  
  
Sesshomaru sighed in relief as he began to walk back to the cave.  
  
But as he began walking, Rin's smile faded and a little frown appeared on her face. She whispered something so softly that Sesshomaru had to turn his head so his ear faced her to make out what she was saying,  
  
"Kohaku?"  
  
Kohaku?  
  
Who...? But Sesshomaru didn't care.  
  
Rin was safe.  
  
But a thought troubled him. Rin was a vulnerable girl in the middle of this youkai infested forest. She should've been dead by now. No youkai, no matter how weak, would've, could've resisted eating this little weak human girl.   
  
Or at least killing her.  
  
Maybe it was his scent on her?  
  
No, they were far from his domains in the western lands. The youkai around here, with the exception of his half-blood brother, had never smelled him before. They could not link him with this mortal.  
  
So why was Rin still alive?  
  
As Sesshomaru pondered this confusing question, a pair of brown eyes watched him from behind Rin's tree.  
  
They had been peacefully resting against the tree. Rin had fallen asleep leaning against Kohaku's shoulder, making the poor boy's face color bright red until he relaxed and admitted to himself how peaceful he was.  
  
A peace that he hadn't felt since before...  
  
As the moon slowly climbed through the star dotted sky, the two kids had dozed off together, until Kohaku sensed the youkai.  
  
He had alerted Rin, but the girl only mumbled,  
  
"Sesshomaru-sama...it's only Sesshomaru-sama."  
  
Kohaku had taken her word and trusted her that it was a safe youkai, a friendly youkai, but when he stepped into the clearing, the strong energy of the youkai, presumably 'Sesshomaru-sama' had washed over Kohaku and startled the boy. This was a strong demon.  
  
But Rin was still relaxed, she seemed to trust this demon, so Kohaku took a big gamble and silently moved behind the tree. He would be there in case the demon attacked, but if this 'Sesshomaru' was a kind demon, he would also know and be able to stay out of sight.  
  
But he didn't have to worry.   
  
Kohaku saw he was an Inu youkai immediately.  
  
The constant sniffing gave him away.  
  
But he seemed to be okay and he was gentle with Rin as he picked her up and walked away.  
  
When Sesshomaru was gone, Kohaku came out from behind his tree. For some reason, he felt...lonely.  
  
Plopping down on the soft grass, Kohaku sighed and began to pick at the grass.   
  
He missed Rin.  
  
~*~  
  
Back at the cave, Sango leaned forward to stir the pot a bit and at the same time reached to the side to slap Miroku's hand without interrupting her stirring.  
  
"Lady Sango, that was uncalled for!"  
  
Miroku protested, rubbing his slapped hand. Sango only raised an eyebrow without even looking at him.  
  
Silence.  
  
Finally, Miroku sighed, and scootched away to a more acceptable distance. He was bored.  
  
Hmm.  
  
"Close your eyes or I'll close them for you, houshi-sama."  
  
Sango said, still focused on the Ramen cooking over the fire.  
  
Miroku sighed again and averted his gaze.  
  
He saw Jaken, who was sitting away from the fire and shooting glares at it.  
  
Miroku decided not to ask.  
  
~*~  
  
As Sango ladled out bowls of Ramen, Sesshomaru arrived back at the cave.  
  
"Hmm, never late for food. Yes, they are truly brothers." Miroku whispered to Sango as he took his bowl.  
  
Sesshomaru decided to ignore this comment as he set Rin down.  
  
Rin yawned cutely, stretching her arms up over her head.   
  
Sango 'aww'-ed softly at this as she leaned back against the wall with her own bowl. Unfortunetely, she sat next to Miroku who was always ready with a hentai comment,  
  
"Cute. Wanna make our own, Lady Sango?"  
  
Sango elbowed him, and smiled at Rin who blinked at the weird adults' antics.  
  
She spotted the Ramen and her eyes glittered as she gasped happily. She was hungry.  
  
Sango smiled again, obviously charmed by the cute chibiness of Rin and motioned for her to take a bowl too.   
  
"Sesshomaru, there's also some for you if you'd like some."  
  
Sango said politely as Rin happily dug in.  
  
Sesshomaru sniffed arrogantly,  
  
"Youkai do not-mphrf"  
  
Rin grinned at Sesshomaru, who now had a mouthful of Ramen.  
  
His eye twitched. Obviously a youkai of his class did not spit food out rudely. No, that would be something his hanyou brother would do. So Sesshomaru bravely swallowed the Ramen and was about to comment on how nasty human food was when...  
  
"Ahem, I believe we agreed to being civilized company so I shall accept your human food."  
  
With that, Sesshomaru took the last bowl of Ramen and tore into fast enough to make Inuyasha embarrased.  
  
Sango and Miroku stifled their laughter, but Rin, still possessing a child's way of geting away with anything, burst out laughing.  
  
Laughter's contagious and soon Sango and Miroku were also laughing, but Sesshomaru was too engrossed in his Ramen to care.  
  
All Sesshomaru was thinking was about stupid humans who laughed when they should be eating. Hmm, maybe he would take their Ramen! That would teach them a lesson...plus, he would get more Ramen...  
  
Who cares about Tetsusaiga when there's Ramen?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N~   
It's alive! Er, he's alive. Kouga, I mean. Honestly, did ya really think I would kill off Kouga? I mean, he is so cool!  
  
^_^   
  
Anyway, I figured, Sesshomaru and Inuyasha are brothers and sometimes siblings have the same taste. (Okay, please don't bombard me with e-mails that say siblings are usually out for each others' blood until they grow up, because I know, I have a sister. But me and my sister still share some of the same interests, like anime. Then again, who wouldn't like anime? ^_~)  
  
Good news, after a sort of midlife crises for Seeing Can Be Deceiving, it's back onto its original plot line. That means it has a plot again! Yay! Phew, you can make a perfect plan for a story (how SCBD started out) but it never really works out as you want it to.  
  
~~~~~Reviewer Replies~~~~~  
  
Fey Wind~ Did this chapter answer your questions? ^_^  
  
Kawaii Kokkei Tsuita no Neko~ Heh, yep, I figured I should get some more cute moments in since in the next few chappies Inu's gonna go back to his gruff, killing, and sorta angsty character again.  
  
Vegetazgrl~ *cringes* Soon, hopefully, but there's a Kikyou scene coming up...  
  
~~~~~ 


	19. A Tool Again

Disclaimer~ Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday, etc.  
  
A/N: Last Update: April 13th, 2003. *winces* Oops...really sorry about that. .  
  
The last part of this chapter was written due to inspiration from a review from Fey Wind.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Seeing Can Be Deceiving  
  
Chapter 18  
  
by sunny1388  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It almost seemed as if Inuyasha flew through the trees. The young kitsune clinging onto his shoulder tightly whimpered, digging his claws further into the fire-rat fur material, scratching Inuyasha's shoulder.  
  
"Inuyasha, slow down!" he whined, leaning down further, certain that he would fall off if they kept going, but his ride didn't hear him.  
  
"Inuyasha..." Shippo whimpered again, a few minutes later.  
  
"Shut the hell up!" Inuyasha snarled at the kit, his emotions taking hold of him. Shippo went silent. Inuyasha felt the slightest bit of regret at yelling at young fox, but he was angry. If Naraku dared to take Kagome, then he would make him pay for it. Starting with one of his offspring.  
  
A cold smirk slowly spread on Inuyasha's face and his fists at his sides clenched. Naraku would have one less follower by the end of the day.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome's face held a blank look.  
  
"Inuyasha's brother? You mean Sesshomaru?" she had no clue of what the injured wolf was talking about.  
  
"Was Sesshomaru here? Is Inuyasha hurt?!" she asked frantically.  
  
Kouga's expression reflected her own: a blank look.  
  
"Wha?" he asked intelligently, "he kidnapped you."  
  
Silence.  
  
Then Kagome spoke in a soft, reassuring voice as she gently tried to push Kouga back down with one hand while the other brought the blanket that was covering the wolf-demon up.  
  
"Kouga, maybe you should rest some more."  
  
Getting the confused wolf down, she scooted over to his head, fingers gently undoing his ponytail and sorting through his black hair to look at his scalp.  
  
Even though he was enjoying the grooming that his love was giving him, Kouga protested, confused even more,  
  
"Uh...Kagome? What're you doing?" he asked the concentrating girl,  
  
"I'm looking for your injury! You must have hurt your head, because Sesshomaru was never here." she told him, exasperated that she had missed one.  
  
Kouga's expression became even blanker, if that was at all possible. Then it dawned on him. He looked slightly annoyed at the humiliation she was implying,  
  
"I didn't hit my head! Dog-breath's brother was here! He took you!"  
  
Kouga sat up, knocking aside the blankets. He opened his mouth, about to defend himself, but stopped.  
  
Suddenly, he grabbed Kagome by the shoulders and brought her into an embrace against him. At least, it seemed like it.  
  
Blushing was an understatement for Kagome,  
  
"Uh, Kouga-kun? Um..." she couldn't find any words to say since her head was still buzzing from concern for him. Her only comprehensible thought was that Kouga had hit his head pretty hard.  
  
But hearing the snuffling sound, she finally understood that he was taking in her scent; but why?  
  
She heard his voice from over her shoulder,  
  
"I don't smell dog-breath's brother's scent on you..." he said, bewilderment obvious in his voice.  
  
"No, of course not! I--" she stopped in the middle of her sentence. Kikyou. Anger and annoyance surfaced. It was Kikyou! After her 'meeting' with Kikyou in the woods, that bitch had gone off and pretended to be her! Kagome's fists clenched at her sides and she stiffened in Kouga's arms.  
  
She had to find Inuyasha now! He probably mistook Kikyou for her and gone off after Sesshomaru...wait...why did Sesshomaru kidnap her? No, Sesshomaru had kidnapped Kikyou thinking the undead miko was her. Okay...so why did Sesshomaru want to kidnap her? She refused to believe it was for Tetsusaiga since Sesshomaru wasn't one to use tactics such as kidnapping to get something he wanted. That arrogant inu youkai would just attack Inuyasha head-on.  
  
This was too confusing! The only thing Kagome was sure of was that she had to find Inuyasha and the rest of the group again and she sure wasn't going to do that by just sitting around.  
  
She became aware of how Kouga's head was now resting on her shoulder and he was still.  
  
Her eye twitched in annoyance.  
  
"Kouga-kun, what are you doing?"  
  
"Hugging you, koi." Came his casual reply.  
  
The eye twitched more violently.  
  
"Kouga-kun?"  
  
"Yes, love?"  
  
"Please stop."  
  
Fortunately, Kouga had the ability to sense strong emotions, such as the dangerous emotions coming off of his Kagome in waves right now.   
  
He gulped.  
  
He let go of her.  
  
~*~  
  
The wind youkai glanced over the edge of her white feather that was speeding through the air above the treetops. She was looking for something, but wasn't having any luck. Deciding to travel along the ground since maybe what she was looking for was only a corpse, she directed the feather down and when only a few feet of the ground, jumped off.   
  
The feather shrank and floated down through the air to land gently on her outstretched palm. Taking the feather, she tucked it into her ebony hair and began to walk in the direction she had been traveling on the feather, her demon senses acutely tuned for any scent of her prey on the wind.  
  
~*~  
  
Meanwhile a young girl was sneaking out of a cave. She carefully got up from her position with her head pillowed on a fluffy tail and tiptoed towards the entrance of the cave.  
  
Getting there, she looked over her shoulder and glanced around the cave.   
  
Sesshomaru was still asleep, sitting against the wall of the cave. Miroku and Sango were once again asleep propped up by one another with Sango's head resting on the lecher's shoulder and his head on top of hers. The kitsune was sleeping in Sango's lap, curled up with the tip of his bushy fox tail brushing his nose. Kirara was also curled up, but on Sango's side, leaning against her mistress.  
  
Nodding happily, Rin skipped out of the cave, only to be grabbed from behind as soon as she stepped outside of the entrance.  
  
A hand clamped down over her mouth while another hand held both of her's behind her back. And Rin was silently dragged off, away from the cave.  
  
Inside the cave, one Inu youkai's golden eye opened narrowly and his nose breathed in.  
  
But Sesshomaru closed his eyes, resting his head back down on his tail again, assured of Rin's safety with the boy he had sensed the day before.  
  
Although reluctant to admit it, Sesshomaru knew that it was good for the girl to know people her own age and species, but it was hard to let go.   
  
From the time Sesshomaru had first seen the little human girl with half-transformed red eyes to now, they had developed some sort of bond. Sesshomaru blamed it on his protective dog demon blood, but in truth, he had accepted it.  
  
~*~  
  
"Kohaku! Rin's back! Kohaku?" eyes casting around the meadow they had been in before, Rin was slightly disappointed that he wasn't there. She knew they hadn't agreed to meet again or anything, but still... Biting her lip, the girl turned and was about to walk back to the cave when she heard a voice call to her and her face lit up,  
  
"Rin! Over here!" the boy was equally happy that they had met again. Yesterday he hadn't been sure if he would ever see his only friend again when the demon took her away, but here she was!  
  
Rin ran towards him, arms stretched in her airplane run and grinning happily. Reaching the boy, she swung her arms around him and gave the surprised, blushing boy a tight hug,  
  
"What does Kohaku-kun want to play today?" she asked him cheerfully, but the boy was too embarrassed to think straight and just muttered,  
  
"Um..."  
  
Unfortunately, he was interrupted by a cold, female voice,  
  
"Here you are, boy."  
  
Kohaku whirled his head around, since he was still bound by Rin.  
  
"K-Kagura.."  
  
"Huh?" Rin asked, looking around Kohaku to spot the youkai standing there, "Who's that?" she whispered to Kohaku, but Kagura, with her demon hearing obvious heard her,  
  
"Come boy, Naraku has been looking for you." a smirk appeared on her face as she restlessly opened one of her lethal bladed fans to fan herself, "I don't think he'll be happy with you running off."  
  
"What?" Rin was completely confused and stared at Kohaku, demanding answers. Who was this lady and who was this 'Naraku' she was talking about. Suddenly, a though popped into her head and she smiled, letting go of Kohaku to skip over to Kagura. Standing in front of the surprised youkai, she smiled,  
  
"Hello Kagura-san. Are you Kohaku-kun's mother?" she asked, smiling,  
  
Kagura was, obviously, confused. Who was this little girl. Didn't she know that Kagura was a youkai?  
  
"I'm a demon, girl. He's a human. I'm not his mother." Rin's mouth formed a round circle and she blushed, embarrassed at making such a mistake,  
  
"Oh, gomen nasai, Rin is very sorry for mistaking you." the little girl murmured as she bowed to a completely bewildered Kagura, who stared down at the innocent, naive little girl standing before her. A thought struck her and her mouth twitched upwards slightly as her gaze rose to meet Kohaku's wary brown eyes,  
  
"So, you've made a friend?" Kagura asked mockingly, while scooping up the girl under one of her arms. Kohaku was about to rush forward, protesting, but Kagura stopped him with a shake of her head,  
  
"Unless you want her to be hurt, you will come back without protest." the wind youkai had seen that the boy's eyes were no longer glazed, like they had always been. Now they were clear brown. Naraku's power over him was gone.   
  
Kohaku was torn. Should he go back to Naraku and keep working as a puppet for the hanyou of pure evil? The very thought made him sick. At least before he hadn't been able to truly control his thoughts or motions. Going back willingly, in a way at least, and slaying willingly and completely consciously...he didn't know if he could take it.  
  
On the other hand, if he refused, then Rin...his only friend. He knew better than to think that Naraku was bluffing. If he refused to go back to Naraku, the demon would consider Rin useless and kill her anyway. He couldn't let Rin die.  
  
"I'll come." he whispered softly, his nature completely that of the real Kohaku's: a gentle boy who was just caught up in a huge mess. Rin looked up at the woman holding her, having heard their entire conversation. She was feeling a flutter in her stomach after hearing the female youkai threatening her. She wanted to be released, but Kohaku's reply agitated her,  
  
"Where is Kohaku-kun going? Can Rin come? Is Kohaku-kun leaving?" she asked, sadness and urgency heavy in her voice. She didn't want her new friend to be leaving already! She tried to meet Kohaku's eyes with her own, but he kept avoiding her questioning gaze until finally he spoke softly and emotionlessly, the real Kohaku once again hidden,  
  
"Yes. I'm leaving. Sorry, Rin, maybe we'll get to play again sometime." Rin nodded, accepting this as Kagura set her down, true to her word. Plucking the feather from her hair, she dropped it and as it drifted to the ground, it enlarged and as soon as it was big enough, she leaped on agilely and the feather rose, bearing her up slightly, then hovering.  
  
Silently, she waited as Kohaku walked past Rin, then ran, not being able to bear it anymore. A call stopped him,  
  
"Bye Kohaku-kun!" Rin called, cheerfully once again and completely ignorant from the heavy emotions that her friend was suffering under. He hid it well.  
  
Kohaku stopped. He slowly turned around and smiled at Rin a disarming smile that hid his eyes. He waved too.  
  
Kagura's feather sped off and with one last wave, Kohaku ran after her, not even pausing in his strides to pick his bloody scythe from the grass.  
  
Rin waved until they were out of her sight, then let out a sigh. She turned away and began to walk back to the cave enjoying a pleasant, uneventful morning walk.  
  
~*~  
  
Kohaku's mind was kept completely blank. Although images of a certain cheerful little girl kept trying to enter it, he bit his lip and fought it, willing himself back into the cold-hearted killing tool he had been before.  
  
Now he completely understood why he hadn't wanted to return to his true self. Back then, the guilt of it all would've overwhelmed him, especially if he had seen his sister again. Now, the guilt would be far greater.   
  
Fervently he hoped that he would never see Rin again after all of this He'd rather die than go back to his friend with the blood of innocents on his hands again.  
  
He wished he could just forget it all.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagura felt the pain emitting from the boy.   
  
Humans only had five rather dull senses. Demons had six.   
  
The last demon sense was the ability to sense emotions. As with human senses, some demons were better at it. It also worked best with companions or mates.  
  
Of course the boy wasn't exactly a friend or companion, but he had been with Naraku even before her, although technically, she was a part of Naraku.  
  
Nonetheless, she was around the boy a lot and now she sensed many emotions swirling about his that almost overwhelmed her. Before, the boy had had very little or no emotions.  
  
It must have been because he would be unwillingly working for Naraku now; like her.  
  
It stunned her that she had something in common with this boy.  
  
Maybe he could help her escape from Naraku...no...that would be foolish. Skilled as the boy was, he wouldn't stand a chance against Naraku.  
  
But try as she might, the wind demoness couldn't get her thoughts away from this idea that perhaps he could help...somehow.  
  
~*~  
  
Miroku rubbed his forehead wearily and sighed, letting Sango take over for a bit, but only a short while since the demon exterminator's patience was already worn thin and he knew from experience how painful her hiraikotsu could be.  
  
"Hand it over or taste the poison of my claws." Sesshomaru demanded, using the same tone that he demanded for the Tetsusaiga with,  
  
"I told you, we don't have--!" Sango exclaimed, fingering the seldom-used sword at her waist. Her boomerang would be too big to throw in their cave.  
  
"Foolish woman," Sesshomaru interrupted, "I, Sesshomaru, have no patience for your games." the dog demon said icily, his hard amber eyes narrowing as he began to flex his fingers, staring down Sango who was glaring back.  
  
Miroku's fingers curled around his staff, ready to interject if they began fighting, but luckily at that moment, Rin came skipping into the cave, looking up at the adults with wide mahogany eyes,  
  
"Sesshomaru-sama?" her eyes traveled to Jaken, cowering in a corner at his master's angry aura, which had filled the cave. She was a little nervous, knowing fully what Sesshomaru was capable of if he got angry. But why was he angry?  
  
In a deadly serious tone, Sesshomaru repeated,  
  
"Hand over the ramen."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
*watches as readers fall over anime-style*   
  
Heh, sorry about that last little part, but I couldn't resist! Once again, I'd like to say in my defense that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha are brothers, so if one likes Ramen that much, the other might.  
  
I was gonna try to get the whole Kagura fight in, but that would've made this chapter like 10 pages long! It's already a longer than my other chapters, although that's not saying much.  
  
I've figured out my problem when it comes to writing. I love waffy/fluffy scenes too much. This means that I tend to ignore my plotline to add in more fluff. I'm sorry. I'm trying to get rid of this problem, but it's hard. Fluff is addicting.  
  
~~~~~Review Responses~~~~~  
  
CrissyKitty~ Sure, I'd be glad to take a look at your fic! And thanks for the cheer!  
  
The Black Gatomon~ Yes, Kikyou should die...don't worry, already plotting a very painful death for Kikyou. *cackles insanely* Yep, I'm trying to keep this as non-AU as possible and to tell the truth, I don't like giving a big role to non-series chars, even in AU stories. And I think Kohaku is a very cute pairing for Rin, although originally I was thinking Rin/Shippo, but then Shippo left with Inuyasha, so that pairing went out the window! lol  
  
Chibi Vegeta Girl~ Heehee, yep, Fluffy likes ramen. I dunno, it makes sense in my very twisted and strange mind. And as for the original plotline...er, no idea. *whispers* Actually, I just started typing this story with no idea what would happen. I'm as confused as you and I don't have any idea what the story is like until I finish a chapter.  
  
Fey Wind~ Kouga is a little...*cough* dense *cough*, yes he is, but he's a guy. Girls know it and guys hate to admit it, but sometimes guys are just clueless. (Nothing against guys, I love them, but still...) BTW, that last little part was for you, your whole 'Hand over the ramen, Inuyasha' cracked me up!  
  
Kawaii~ Naruto? No, sorry, but I know what a Ramen craving is like! Hmm...Ramen...that sounds good about now. Confusing? Yeah, it's kinda like a riddle. You have no idea what everything's about until the end. Then, (hopefully) everything will make sense. Hopefully. ^_^  
  
~~~~~  
  
Love the reviews, guys, keep them coming!   
  
Reviews: a part of this balanced breakfast! So please, feed me! Review! 


End file.
